Mayoral candidates tackle the city's dropout problem

All announced mayoral candidates identified by the Notebook (as of Feb. 19) were sent a survey on dropout issues and were invited to submit a 400-word response to the Notebook. Six candidates responded by the deadline. Below the following introductory statement sent to the candidates are the questions posed to all candidates and their answers.

Philadelphia is fortunate to have an active and broad-based leadership coalition, the Philadelphia Youth Transitions Collaborative. The Collaborative has conducted comprehensive research on struggling students and out-of-school youth, and has united around a set of strategies, called Project U-Turn, for tackling the dropout problem. Project U-Turn proposals include early intervention strategies, supports for students in high-risk groups, strategies to find and reconnect students who have left school, and citywide efforts to build youth and community involvement and political support for solutions.

The Notebook, a participant in the Collaborative, is posing questions to gauge the viewpoints of the mayoral candidates on issues relating to struggling students and out-of-school youth and the Project U-Turn effort.