Part of CPB’s American Graduate initiative, the programs spotlight inspiring stories of those who have ‘dropped back in’

Almost 40 million adults in America – one in five – have not earned a high school diploma or GED® credential. In Kentucky, more than 750,000 adults do not have their high school diploma or equivalent.

Why do people drop out of school? And why are some dropouts successful in returning to school and continuing their education against all odds?

KET traveled across the country in an attempt to answer these questions while producing its new series Dropping Back In, which will air on PBS stations across the country starting this fall. The series premieres Monday, Oct. 6 at 9/8 pm on KET. A companion website is available at droppingbackin.org.

Dropping Back In is a KET production, funded by a $600,000 grant through American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, a public media initiative by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help local communities solve the high school dropout crisis.

The series features four half-hour programs showcasing frank, honest interviews with high school dropouts from Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Chicago, California, South Dakota, and here in Kentucky who detail the obstacles that kept them from staying in school. They also discuss the ways in which they were able to “drop back in,” earn their GED® credential and move on to secure fulfilling careers.

In the series’ first episode, “Second Chances,” which will encore Monday, Oct. 13 at 9:30/8:30 p.m. on KET, national experts – including Ronald Ferguson, a professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education and co-director of Harvard’s Achievement Gap Initiative; Russell Rumberger, professor of education at UC Santa Barbara and author of Dropping Out: Why Students Drop Out of High School and What Can Be Done About It; and Stephen Rose, economist at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce – introduce the scope and enormous personal and societal costs of dropping out.

Youth advocate and former Kentucky Commissioner of Juvenile Justice Hasan Davis also figures prominently in the first episode. Davis shares his own story of ‘dropping back in’ – after facing multiple school expulsions – in order to obtain his GED® certificate, graduate from  Berea College and earn a law degree from the University of Kentucky. Local student Ebony Nava, a GED® graduate who currently attends Lexington’s Bluegrass Community and Technical College, also appears in the episode.

Others interviewees in episode one include Greg Mathis, a GED® graduate and star of the syndicated TV program Judge Mathis; Victor Rios, a former dropout who is now a professor of sociology at UC Santa Barbara; and Chase Henderson, a GED® graduate who is now an adult education tutor at Delgado Community College in New Orleans.

Immediately following at 9:30/8:30 pm on KET, another episode, “Complicated Lives,” identifies the personal and socioeconomic challenges that can prompt students to drop out.

The series’ final episode will air Monday, Oct. 13 at 9/8 p.m. on KET. This episode, “Working for the Future” goes on to highlight how the nation’s community colleges and adult education programs are changing in order to find incentives to attract under-prepared students and train them to be career-ready. A fourth episode in the series will air at a later date.

Dropping Back In is a KET production. Producers are Marsha Hellard and Vince Spoelker. Executive producer is Teresa Day. For more information about Dropping Back In, including additional video clips and archived video of the series after it airs, visit droppingbackin.org.

KET is Kentucky’s largest classroom, serving more than one million people each week via television, online and mobile. Learn more about Kentucky’s preeminent public media organization on Twitter @KET and facebook.com/KET and at KET.org

KET is Kentucky’s largest classroom, serving more than one million people each week via television, online and mobile. Learn more about Kentucky’s preeminent public media organization on Twitter @KET and facebook.com/KET and at KET.org.

Contact:

Todd Piccirilli
Senior Director, Marketing and Communications
859-258-7242
tpiccirilli@ket.org