Woodland Hills Receives $750K Grant to Combat Dropout Problem

The has been awarded a $750,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments to help combat the issue of increasing dropout rates among African-American students.

At , records for the 2009-10 year show that the graduating class of 352 students was evenly split racially, with 49 percent white and 49 percent African-American students.

But the dropout rate tells another story. White students were 23 percent of the total number of dropouts in the 2009-10 school year, while 76.5 percent of all dropouts from the high school were African-American.

The rate of black male dropouts was 14 percent higher than black females; 31 percent higher than white male dropouts; and 36 percent higher than white female dropouts, according to a Woodland Hills news release.

“We approached the Heinz Endowments with a proposal to address this imbalance and they have agreed to provide the tools to help us successfully achieve our goals,” explained , who spearheaded the grant proposal request.

Goals and Strategies

The top goals of the grant include:

• Influence the creation of a culture of academic achievement by African-American males in our schools and in our communities.
• Create opportunities for meaningful involvement by African-American males in our schools and in our communities.
• Create partnerships between our schools and our communities that jointly promote a scholar identity for our African-American male youth.
• Increase the number of African-American males from Woodland Hills who enroll in and graduate from college and, in particular, increase the number of these students who choose education as a career.

“We have a determined team of educators in the Woodland Hills School District who have demonstrated their talent and conviction to effect real and lasting change in our students’ lives," said Superintendent Walter Calinger. "And our district has made supporting our young African-American men a priority as we go forward. Despite what federal or state mandates require, the Woodland Hills School District is committed to ‘leaving no child behind.’ ”