Dropout Diplomacy: A Boston Initiative Reaches Out to Truants

It's public education's dirty little secret: Three out of ten students who start high school don't finish it four years later. Among African American and Hispanic teens, on-time graduation rates can be less than 50 percent.

That's why a growing number of groups are rallying to not only prevent high schoolers from leaving but also convince those who have fled to return to the classroom.

In New England, the Boston Private Industry Council is partnering with the city's public school system on the Boston Youth Transitions Project, which is designed to track down high school dropouts and convince them to return. Point men on the project are outreach specialists Marvin Moore and Emmanuel Allen, self-described "street researchers." Both are former dropouts who later returned to finish their education, and both are blunt and realistic with dropouts about the limited economic opportunities for those without a complete education.

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