R12CC’s newest and second Colorado project—the Colorado Dropout Prevention Framework Update and Refresh Project—has formally launched.

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) developed the Colorado Dropout Prevention Framework in 2010 featuring methods and strategies to prevent school dropout and increase student re-engagement.1 While Colorado’s dropout rate is at its lowest (1.8%)2 point in a decade, it has remained fairly stationary over those years. However, disruptions due to COVID-19 threaten to increase the dropout rate, potentially exceeding the 8,561 students who dropped out last school year.3 Now is the opportune time to update and refresh the Framework to provide Colorado districts and schools with current resources, tailored to student needs, that strengthen and propel dropout prevention and student re-engagement efforts for years to come.

R12CC is helping build the capacity of CDE to undertake Framework revisions. This begins with identifying potential content and format improvements, aligning the Framework to other departmental frameworks, and collecting initial input from internal stakeholders on how to best update the Framework. The revised Framework will be innovative, adaptive, and responsive to student needs whether a student has or is at risk to drop out, and provide information that is easy to access, understand, and utilize by families, community members, and students themselves.

1 https://www.cde.state.co.us/dropoutprevention/dropoutpreventionframework
2 https://www.cde.state.co.us/communications/2021gradrate
3 https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdereval/dropoutcurrent