Connecting health professionals, business, universities and tutor/mentor programs is a goal of the Tutor/Mentor Connection. This article by Nicholas Freudenberg, DrPH and Jessica Ruglis provides good reading on this topic.

Included in Volume 4: No. 4, October 2007 US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2007/oct/07_0063.htm 

 
“……Good education predicts good health, and disparities in health and
in educational achievement are closely linked. Despite these
connections, public health professionals rarely make reducing the
number of students who drop out of school a priority, although nearly
one-third of all students in the United States and half of black,
Latino, and American Indian students do not graduate from high school
on time. In this article, we summarize knowledge on the health benefits
of high school graduation and discuss the pathways by which graduating
from high school contributes to good health."   [posted PAHO/WHO Equity
Listserv]

The America's Promise web site has an informative page on Drop Out statistics:

Read more at http://www.americaspromise.org/APAPage.aspx?id=9174

I found a report titled "Locating the Drop Out Crisis" that shows which cities and states have the highest high school drop out rates. This report provides excellent information for anyone interested in this issue. I posted a link on the Act Now Wiki, hosted by  the Pew Partnership for Civic Change.

The Wiki is focused on the High School Drop Out Crisis, and has many more articles and resources than just what I posted.

I'm organizing the May 2008 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference and encourage people who are collecting and discussing this type of information to do workshops and host discussions, showing why this is an important issue, and ways volutneer-based tutor/mentor programs can have an impact.  Visit http://www.tutormentorconference.org to find information and a workshop presenter form.

The March 2008 email newsletter from the Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA had several articles related to high school drop out issues.  I encourage you to sign up for their email newsletter so you can receive such information directly. Here's what was in the current issue:

DROPOUTS/PUSHOUTS

Obviously, the problem of students leaving school before graduation has tremendous implications for all of us. If the escalating number of news
articles on this matter is any indication, we all need to help school improvement decision makers understand that a greater focus in schools on psychosocial and mental health concerns is imperative if the dropout rate is to decrease. [For resourcess and information on this matter, see the Center Quick Find on Dropout Prevention –
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/dropout.html and the Center Intro Packet on this matter –
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/DropoutPrev/dropout.pdf ]

Here is a sample of some recent news reports:

>>Why Students Drop Out?
Arizona State University longitudinal study tracking Arizona students from kindergarten through high school to examine behavioral characteristics of dropouts found quitting is a gradual process that starts in K-8. This is contrary to the thought that dropping out is an impulsive act and that most dropout intervention programs should target high school students.
Educators are encouraged to develop strategies to improve student attendance from as early as kindergarten. 2/6/08. Arizona Central.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0206ednbyrodel0206.html

>>Study: Texas School System Fosters Low Graduation Rates
A study by Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin shows that Texas' public school accountability system, the model for the national No Child Left Behind Act, directly contributes to lower graduation rates. By analyzing data from more than 271,000 students, the study found that 60 % of African-American students, 75% of Latino students and 80% of English-as-a-second language students did not graduate within five years.
Researchers found an overall graduation rate of only 33 percent. The exit of low-achieving students created the appearance of rising test scores and of a narrowing of the achievement gap. 2/15/08. Austin Business
Journal.
http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/02/11/daily31.thml

>>Dropout Report Hits Non-traditional Sites
Schools designed as a last resort for keeping kids in school are in fact seeing an alarming dropout rate. A disproportionate number of California's dropout are coming from non-traditional schools that include charters,
continuation schools and alternative programs. Such schools produced more that 40% of the state's dropouts in 2005-06, despite enrolling only 12 percent of the high school population. 2/21/08. Sacramento Bee. http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/727744.html

>>Dropout Rate, Suspensions on Rise in N.C.
North Carolina high school students are dropping out in increasing numbers despite more efforts to keep them in school, prompting frustrated
education leaders to call for raising the minimum dropout age from 16-18. Legislators and education officials have been paying more attention to the dropout problem since learning last year that more than 30 percent of high school students aren't graduating. 2/8/08. The News Observer. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/education/story/932010.html

>>Teens May Get 5 Years to Graduate
Some Michigan students would be able to attend a fifth year of high school – and not be counted as dropouts for failing to graduate in four. If
approved by the state Board of Education, Michigan will ask the feds' permission to allow kids who have dropped out, and then return to
school, to attend five years of high school without being counted as dropouts. Michigan would be just the third in the nation, following
Washington and Idaho, to have an exemption for alternative education students. 2/11/08. The DetroitNews.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080211/schools/802110353

>>Dropout Rate Targeted
Requiring Maryland students to remain in school until they turn age 18 could drastically reduce dropout rates but would cost the state $200
million a year and worsen the existing shortage of teachers, classroom space and other resources. A statewide task force of educators, community leaders and legislators recommended raising the compulsory attendance age as well as other proposals to reduce dropouts. 2/11/08. The Baltimore Sun.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-md.ar.dropout11feb11,0,4548737.story
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This report, titled NYC Mapping Health Care, uses maps to show where prisoner reentry services are most needed, based on which neighborhoods of the city have the highest concentrations of ex-offenders. The way this report uses maps illustrates how others could use such tools to mobilize resources for all of the areas where the maps show more help is needed.

http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/centersinstitutes/pri/pdfs/NYCMappingHeathCare.pdf

New Drop Out Crisis Information from the eNews of the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools, see http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu

CA. HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATE FAR HIGHER THAN EXPECTED
California's first true count of high school dropouts shows that one in four kids quit school last year, which is fare more than state educators estimated before they began using a new student tracking system. The statewide 24% dropout rate also shows African American and Latino students leaving school at much higher rates than other ethnic groups: 42% of black students and 30% of Latinos quit high school last year. 7/17/08. San Francisco Chronicle.

BRINGING POTENTIAL DROPOUTS BACK FROM THE BRINK
To improve their dropout numbers, districts are taking aggressive steps to keep students in the classroom. These include mentoring programs to help students most at risk of dropout out, identifying children as young as elementary age who are not attending school and may be at risk of dropping out in later years, small alternative programs for students identified as academically at risk because of truancy or disciplinary issues. 6/29/08. The New York Times.

In addition to these articles, a Drop Out Summit was held in Louisville, KY on July 30. 2008.  Find information here.