Project U-Turn Revamping To Help More Local Students Graduate
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The city of Philadelphia renews its commitment to help young Philadelphians graduate high school and pursue higher education.
In 2006, Project U-Turn was launched with the goal of helping more students graduate on time, and to implement strategies to reduce the dropout rate.
"It's getting more children to graduation, and that graduation means a lot for many young people who have been disengaged from school, it also focuses on those youth," said Philadelphia schools superintendent Dr. William Hite.
Hite says almost a decade after the program's implementation they are revamping it by setting new strategies and giving students more options and structures for how they complete high school.
"The structure could be a different time of day, the structure could be a different way in which the young people accumulate credits, the structure could be a work experience," said Hite.
Dr. Hite says he hopes the new ways they plan on working with students will help them with their goal of reducing the dropout rate to under 20 percent.
"All of those structures then allow young people a different pathway if you will, towards graduation," he said.
According to Pennsylvania Department of Education, the four-year graduation rate in Philadelphia is 66 percent.
