America’s Promise Alliance recently noted that nearly one-third of U.S. high school students drop out before graduating — with about 7,000 students dropping out every school day, or one every 26 seconds. And, March statistics from the U.S. Labor Department show that the 8.2 percent jobless rate for Americans with less than a high school education is 60 percent higher than the overall jobless rate of 5.1 percent.

This issue has significant long-term implications for workforce readiness and continued U.S. leadership in the global economy, Stephenson said.

According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, students who are unprepared to enter college cost the U.S. economy more than $3.7 billion annually in lost earnings and remedial education costs. And, according to the landmark study “The Silent Epidemic” by John Bridgeland, a high school dropout earns, on average, $9,200 less a year than a high school graduate and about $1 million less over a lifetime than a college graduate.

$100 Million AT&T Aspire Program Will Fund Education, Workforce Grants
As one of the largest-ever corporate commitments to high school retention and workforce readiness, the $100 million AT&T Aspire program will support proven organizations that promote educational success, from the classroom to the workplace.

Beginning this month, the AT&T Foundation — the corporate philanthropy organization of AT&T Inc. — will solicit grant proposals from schools and local organizations focused on high school retention.

AT&T Launches Unprecedented Companywide Job Shadow Initiative
The company’s job shadowing initiative involves committing 400,000 employee volunteer hours to reach 100,000 students over the next five years. The program will pair AT&T employees with students in grades 9-12 so that students can experience the world of work and see firsthand the kinds of skills necessary to be successful in the workplace.

“AT&T is uniquely positioned to inspire tomorrow’s workforce through job shadowing,” said Bill Blase, senior executive vice president, Human Resources for AT&T. “With more than 300,000 employees, we are ready to motivate students and show them what a dynamic and diverse workplace is all about.”

AT&T will work with Junior Achievement to administer and execute the effort. Junior Achievement is a recognized leader in job shadowing and a key member of the National Job Shadow Coalition, which also includes the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor and America’s Promise Alliance. The AT&T program is the largest-ever corporate job shadowing initiative Junior Achievement has undertaken.

Job shadowing is a proven way to improve high school success. According to Junior Achievement, 79 percent of students participating in job shadowing report that the program increased their desire to stay in school.

“We are thrilled that AT&T is joining forces with Junior Achievement to address one of the biggest challenges facing our young people and the businesses for whom they would work — lack of work-readiness skills,” said Jack Kosakowski, executive vice president and chief operating officer of JA Worldwide and president of Junior Achievement USA. “This partnership makes the critical connection between classroom lessons and the world of work so that students enter the workforce ready to contribute and succeed.”

AT&T’s two major unions, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, are supporting the job shadowing initiative.

AT&T to Underwrite Landmark Research, Dropout Prevention Summits
Picking up where his seminal education study, “The Silent Epidemic,” left off, John Bridgeland will turn his research to the perspectives of teachers and school administrators on the high school dropout crisis, including why students drop out, the barriers to keeping more students engaged and effective strategies to ensure more students stay on track to graduate. The research is being commissioned by AT&T and America’s Promise Alliance.

“The statistics on our nation’s dropout crisis are alarming, and the consequences of this crisis are devastating personally, socially, economically and civically,” said Bridgeland. “This research will help provide schools and communities with important new perspectives to design policies and initiatives that will help address the dropout epidemic.”

In addition, AT&T will help underwrite 100 state and community dropout-prevention summits. Led by America’s Promise Alliance — the nation’s largest partnership alliance working on behalf of children and youth — the summits will be held in all 50 states. The summits will increase public awareness of the dropout crisis, serve as a call to action for all Americans and develop workable solutions to improve graduation rates.

“Nearly one-third of all public high school students — and nearly one-half of minority students — fail to graduate with their classmates,” said Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO of America’s Promise Alliance. “Through our Dropout Prevention summits, we will work closely with states and communities, listening to families, schools and students to find the best ways to fight the growing dropout crisis — and apply those lessons as quickly as possible.”

Stephenson said, “Investing in a well-educated workforce may be the single most important thing we can do to help America remain the leader in a digital, global economy.”