Eastern Shore of Maryland Consortium's Dropout Prevention Program

The OJJDP FY 09 Earmarks Programs further the Department's mission by providing grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, to organizations identified in the Explanatory Statement Regarding H.R. 1105 (Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009), 155 Cong. Rec. H1653 (daily ed. Feb. 23, 2009) (statement by Rep. Obey, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House).

Since 2000 the Eastern Shore of Maryland Educational Consortium (ESMEC) schools have been using web-based tools to help students in the credit recovery process to prevent them from dropping out. Studies have shown that students who drop out of high school become a strain on society and increase poverty and crime rates. However, due to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), schools are now working to identify individual at-risk students and to intervene before it is too late. ESMEC serves nine counties on the Eastern Shore including Worcester, Somerset, Wicomico, Dorchester, Talbot, Caroline, Queen Anne's, Kent, and Cecil, servicing more than 20 high schools. These schools provide a dropout prevention program, Stars Suite®, for identified at-risk students to help keep students' performance rates up and adhere to NCLB. This program, developed by Educational Options, Inc., has been very successful in helping students all over the nation recover credits and stay on the path to graduation. EdOptions' Stars Suite®program affords students the flexibility and opportunities they need to remain engaged, attentive and most importantly, in school and on track to graduate. By continuing to grow ESMEC's dropout prevention programs, schools will have the tools and resources to prevent students from dropping out. NCA/NCF