Bill aims to keep kids in school

August 5th 4:00 pm | Alaska Newspapers Staff

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has introduced legislation instituting preventative measures to keep students from dropping out of school.

The Early Intervention for Graduation Success bill would amend the current school dropout prevention provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and direct competitive grants to states and school districts with the lowest graduation rates to fund effective, sustainable and coordinated school dropout prevention activities.

Murkowski, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, announced the legislation on Aug. 5. She said she wants to focus on toddlers and elementary school students because that's when children's troubles in school begin.

She described the measure as "an educational guardrail to get at-risk kids on track early and keep them moving forward - it helps schools identify those children who are starting to fall off track as soon as possible and helps schools provide individualized, effective interventions."

The legislation would provide for partnerships of school districts and early learning providers to develop and update individual learning plans for students with dropout risk factors and ensure that those plans are updated each year from preschool through high school. Partnerships would also choose from a menu of research-based options to improve services to these children.

Alaska Newspapers Staff can be reached at editor@alaskanewspapers.com, or by phone at 907-348-2449

Copyright 2012 • The Arctic Sounder is a publication of Alaska Media, LLC. This site, its design and contents are © 2012 and may not be reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication on not-for-profit websites. Alaska Media, LLC may not own copyright to portions of articles published; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Media, LLC makes no provisions for further distribution.

The Arctic Sounder - Serving the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope - A publication of Alaska Media, LLC, Alaska's rural news leader.

Copyright 2012 The Arctic Sounder is a publication of Alaska Media, LLC. This article is © 2012 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are granted for this printing only. This article, in any form, may not be further reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Portions of this article may belong to other agencies; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Media, LLC makes no provisions for further distribution.