The Time Is Now: Understanding and Responding to the Black and Latina/o Dropout Crisis in the U.S.

The fact that 30% of all high school students and 50% of African American, Latina/o, and Native American students fail to graduate from high school is grounds for alarm in the United States. The Time Is Now argues that understanding and responding to the dropout crisis facing the United States has overlooked one major element - school culture. Using the PUEDES approach as an analytical framework, this book highlights how schools matter and, in fact, hold many of the solutions that contribute to student engagement and disengagement in school, particularly among low-income students of color. Drawing on more than 10 years of school-based research in Boston, Miami, and Southern California, a 10-Point Plan is proposed. The book provides a practical theory of action aimed at challenging the ways schools and communities work together to transform education practice, policy, and, ultimately, student engagement and achievement, particularly among African American and Latina/o students across the United States.