Drop-In Program Gives Drop-Outs a Second Chance

    Every school day, about 7,000 students drop out of school(退学) in the United Stars. That's a total of 1.2 million students each year  and only about 70 percent of entering high school freshman¹ graduate each year. The problem is especially serious in America’s inner city school districts. In Philadelphia(费城), for example, nearly half of the student population drops out of high school.
    But a program in Philadelphia is working to re-engage students to come back to school, earn a diploma and even go on to college - schools that cater² to students who have dropped back in.
    Many of the returning students have big dreams. One wants a career in law enforcement. Another plans to be an accountant or an attorney. They’re on track to achieve those dreams now that they’re back in school.
    "When people think of drop out they think, ‘Oh, you don’t want to go to school, that’s why you dropped out.’" Educator(教育家) Tierra Fernandez says that’s not the reason most kids leave school. "You have students that are in foster care or they have unstable³ households, they’ve children, they moved around a whole lot and they just don’t have a stable house to live in."As a special projects assistant with Philadelphia’s Re-Engagement Center, Fernandez is working to change that. To address its drop-out problem, school district officials created the nation’s first program designed specifically to attract high school drop-outs and turn them back into students.
    "Our mission is to connect as many students with the opportunity to graduate as possible," says Fernandez. "The Re-Engagement Center as a whole [accepts] any students that are over-aged and under credited, or who have dropped out of school."The program began as a telephone hotline, but now works with 11 schools around the city. Some offer only on-line classes, others allow students to attend half days so they can continue to work or care for children. But most drop-in students return to school full time.
    Returning students like Brandon Suarez say it took a while to realize the importance of finishing school. He was just months away from graduating when he dropped out two years ago, and says the Re-Engagement Center has given him a second chance.
    "When you sit at home on your butt⁴ all day, you realize education, your diploma, is the starting point of life," says Suarez.
    To help non-traditional students like Suarez succeed in an academic setting, Re-Engagement Center schools may impose special rules.
    For instance, at the three schools run by Excel Academy, there is a strict dress code. Students wear either black, gray or white shirts. Each color gives students a status that restricts them from certain activities or grants them special privileges. Their behavior and grades determine which color they wear.  But according to senior Push Morris, the rules and discipline, along with encouragement from faculty⁵, help the Re-Engagement Center live up to its name.
    "It’s early in the morning, they’re excited. They’re like, 'Woo! Good job coming into school.' But at other schools, you don’t see that, like actually standing⁶ outside welcoming you into the schools and stuff. So I feel it’s a great motivation to have in the morning."More than 4,300 students have felt that motivation since the program started in May 2008. It currently serves 2,200 students, and just opened a new school in North East Philadelphia to attract more Latinos, the ethnic⁷ group with the highest percentage of drop outs.
    According to Matthew Kass, director of Excel Academy Central, the secret behind these schools is the trust that’s part of the student-teacher relationship.
    "I know everything about them, and you know what, kids like that because a lot of the times in these comprehensive schools, these kids get lost in the shuffle," says Kass. "There is no accountability. We believe in accountability."For instance, if students are late to school, they may not go into their classroom and interrupt the instruction for everyone else. They must spend that period outside, picking up trash around the school.
    Kass says with that philosophy and more programs like the Re-Engagement Centers, the nation can meet President Obama’s goal of leading the world’s college graduation rate by 2020.
    "I’m not graduating students to the streets, and it is my commitment and my mission to make sure that they go to the next level," he says.
    Brandon Suarez is ready for the next level. The 20-year-old has been going to Excel Academy South since it opened its doors in September, and graduated in February. He plans to pursue a career as a firefighter. Seventy-seven of his 78 classmates graduated with him. And 85 percent of them have been accepted to post-secondary programs, moving them closer to achieving their dreams.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

2 cater   

vi.(for/to)满足，迎合；(for)提供饮食及服务

参考例句：

• I expect he will be able to cater for your particular needs.我预计他能满足你的特殊需要。
• Most schools cater for children of different abilities.大多数学校能够满足具有不同天资的儿童的需要。

3 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

4 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

5 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。