Correction: TN Department of Education Announces 2009 Moving Forward Graduation Summit

NASHVILLE – As part of the America’s Promise Alliance’s Dropout Prevention Campaign, the Tennessee Department of Education today announced commencement of the 2009 Moving Forward Graduation Summit, held in Nashville today.

The summit will address strategies to improve the high school graduation rate in ten school districts: Cannon, Davidson, DeKalb, Fayette, Hamilton, Haywood, Knox, Monroe and Sequatchie Counties, and Memphis City Schools. The overall goal being to serve as a starting point for the process of planning local summits and implementing dropout prevention strategies that will increase graduation rates.

"When a student drops out of school, the entire community pays the price," Governor Phil Bredesen said.  "To ensure that all of Tennessee's young people have the opportunity to go to college and find a good job, we must all work together to help our students stay in school."

The ten districts represented at the summit have struggled with dropout rates over the past three years. Each will qualify for $1,000 “mini-grants” to organize local summits to highlight local solutions and encourage continued collaboration in their community.

“I am proud of what we have done in our state to increase standards and graduation rates,” Education Commissioner Tim Webb said. “But we still have a long way to go and looking at the issue in a statewide perspective just makes sense.”

Summit partners include America’s Promise Alliance, Tennessee Department of Education, Volunteer Tennessee, AT&T, Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee, State Farm Insurance, the Tennessee Business Roundtable, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission – Gear Up Tennessee.

The summit will be held from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., March 18 in room 206 of the Nashville Convention Center, 601 Commerce Street.

For more information, contact Rachel Woods at (615) 253-1960 or Rachel.Woods@state.tn.us. 
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