On-Demand FRONTLINE: Dropout Nation

Shown: Sharpstown High School graduation ceremony, June 3, 2012, Houston, Texas. Of the 455 students who entered the class as freshmen, 217 made it to graduation.

Credit: Courtesy of FRONTLINE

Watch Frontline Dropout Nation: On-Demand Witness a high-stakes experiment to rescue students prepared to quit high school without a diploma. 

What does it take to save a student? Every year, hundreds of thousands of teenagers in the United States quit high school without diplomas — an epidemic so out of control that nobody knows the exact number. What is clear is that massive dropout rates cripple individual career prospects and cloud the country’s future. At Houston’s Sharpstown High, once a notorious “dropout factory,” a high-stakes experiment is underway to rescue students from the edge. FRONTLINE spent a semester immersed in Sharpstown High to produce an unforgettable portrait of four students in crisis and the teachers, counselors and principal waging a daily, personal struggle to get them to graduation. A troubling and inspiring journey through the maze of an inner-city high school, “Dropout Nation,"  investigates the causes, challenges, and potential solutions of a national emergency.

With 1.3 million students dropping out of high school every year, the need for an in-depth examination into this crisis is crucial. That’s why WXXI is dedicated to building awareness of the national and local issues that have led to this alarming dropout rate and to help our community find solutions to ensure a greater number of graduates in the future.

Local support for the American Graduate Initiative and this broadcast is made possible by Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection, preparing students for graduation, college, and a career.

Watch Full Program: Chapter 1

Watch Dropout Nation on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.