CONFRONTING
ONGOING ISSUES
DROPOUTS
CAREER AND
VOCATIONAL/
TECHNICAL
EDUCATION
Portland students are ready to
work.
A five-year plan developed by the
Portland Public Schools Career and
V o c a tio n a l/T e c h n ic a l E ducation
Dept. gives Portland graduates the
competitive edge they need to take
their places as responsible adults.
Priority elements in the five-year
plan include:
• Improvements at Benson Poly
technic High School, including
- redesigned curricula to better meet
labor-m arket needs and prepare
students for technical education.
The physical plant must be reno
vated and the equipment improved
to support the curricula.
• C o n tin u e d p a r t i c i p a t i o n in
Portland Leaders’ R oundtable, a
group of business, education and
local-governm ent leaders th a t
meets regularly to m onitor youth-
employment isues.
• Exploration of new working rela
tionships with business and indus
try to identify com panies and
facilities where students can gain
new and up-to-date competencies.
• Satellite academy program s stra
tegically located across the school
district to attract students from
- other attendance areas to excep
tionally strong vocational-educa
tion programs.
• Regional planning and “shared
tim e ” a rra n g e m e n ts b etw een
P o rtla n d P ublic S chools and
Portland Com m unity College to
eliminate duplication of course
work and cut costs in some expen
sive program s. O ther cooperative
a g re e m e n ts w ith n eig h b o rin g
school districts will make nearby
facilities, expertise and equipm ent
available to Portland students.
TEENAGE
PREGNANCY
Pregnancy and m otherhood are
stressful times for young students
facing uncertain futures.
W ithout the financial and em o
tional resources needed to make it
through difficult times, those students
and many other teenage parents need
support and encouragem ent to stay
in school, increase their self-suffi
ciency and become better parents.
Portland Public Schools’ Teen
Parent Program is designed to help
those pregnant teenagers and teenage
parents.
The new program provides day
c a re , in sc h o o l s u p p o rt g ro u p s,
parenting classes and special outreach
services that bring young m others
back to school after they've dropped
out following the births of their
children.
The program expands on personal
attention and services offered in the
school district’s Continuing Educa
tion for Girls (CEG), a program
providing academic, parenting, health
and vocational courses to pregnant
teenagers and young mothers.
The Teen Parent Program , which
began in October 1986, now is located
at six Portland high schools and
serves some 260 students.
An addition to the program is the
Infant-Toddler Care Center, which
provides daycare services to children
of teenage parents.
Portland Public Schools’dropout-
prevention program , Project Return,
has one top priority: 12- to 15-year-
olds who cut school.
T hose stu d en ts — because of
alcohol or drug abuse, disruptive
family problems, trouble in making
critical moves from middle school to
high school or a variety of other
reasons — are most “at risk” of
becoming dropout statistics.
With school district dropout rates
nearly 25 percent — a percentage
still considered totally unacceptable
— Portland Public Schools is battling
to bring the dropouts back to school.
Project R eturn is leading that
battle.
M ore than 1,100 Portland School
District students were referred by
their schools to Project Return coun
selors last year. Those counselors
worked with students individually to
get them back in school or enrolled
in alternative programs.
Project Return counselors discuss
the im portance of school with stu
dents and help them develop goals,
confidence and self-esteem. They
watch for drug or alcohol abuse, visit
student homes or workplaces if neces
sary and serve as a kind of “resource
brokerage” in tying families and
students to other service agencies
and programs.
And Project Return is m aking an
impact on dropout statistics.
Last year 53 percent of the students
referred to Project Return returned
to school. That statistic compares
favorably to success rates in other
p ro g ram s fo r “ a t-ris k ” stu d en ts
nationwide.
Portland Public Schools is focusing
p a rticu la r a tte n tio n on students
making the transition between middle
school and high school.
The dropout rate for ninth-grade
students is 29 percent — the largest
in any grade level.
Last year a special transitional
classroom for students aged 12-15
was designed specifically to prepare
students for high school.
SPECIAL NEEDS
Portland continues to recognize
and serve the special needs of its
changing student population.
T h o se e ffo rts ran g e fro m an
expanded program for talented and
gifted students, to improved pro
grams for refugees, to helping teachers
serve mildly disabled students in
regular classrooms, to tailored help
for athletes in the areas of study skills
and time management.
DAYCARE
Portland School District is extend
ing the reach of schools to before-
and after-school care because of needs
expressed by parents.
M ore than 1,100 students now are
served in program s at 25 Portland
schools.
Daycare program s for students in
kindergarten through Grade 5 are
established in cooperation with a
school’s principal
providing space
is available and the needs for such
services have been documented.
Space is provided by schools with
out cost to nonprofit organizations.
The school district has developed
a list of daycare and other community
agencies interested in becoming pro
viders so that, when needs are identi
fied, resources are available.
DRUGS
AND ALCOHOL
Effective drug-and-alcohol educa
tion involves much more than a
single unit in a textbook or a class at
one grade level.
Portland Public Schools follows
an ongoing drug-education curricu-