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What is Aspire?

AT&T Aspire: Students from D.C.'s Frank W. Ballou Senior High School discuss the high school drop-out problem, hurdles they face and how AT&T Aspire programs are helping them pursue their educational and career goals

WHAT IS ASPIRE?

Work force ready

As access to skilled workers becomes increasingly vital to the U.S. economy, AT&T is stepping up its commitment in education to help more students graduate from high school ready for careers and college, and to ensure the country is better prepared to meet global competition. Read more »

Among the most significant corporate educational initiatives in the U.S., AT&T Aspire has already impacted more than one million students across all 50 states since the program launched in 2008.

WHAT'S NEW?

New Aspire grants

In March, we announced an expansion to the Aspire program, bringing our total planned investment up to $350 million. With this additional financial commitment, AT&T Aspire will build on the program's first four years of success by:

We're excited to continue working with leading education organizations across the country to help prepare students for success in the workplace, college and life.

EDUCATION IN AMERICA

Exponential Change and Innovation
  • Lacking a high school degree is a serious issue in the United States, where one in four students – more than 1 million each year – drops out. 1
  • On average, a high school dropout earns 25 percent less during the course of his or her lifetime compared with a high school graduate and 57 percent less than a college graduate with a bachelor's degree.2
  • The dropout rate, along with inadequate training and education, is keeping many high-paying Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) jobs from being filled. And the situation is expected to worsen as STEM jobs grow a projected 17 percent by 2018.3
  • Workers in these positions typically earn 26 percent more than those in non-STEM positions.3

Although the problem is serious, there are signs of progress according to a March 19, 2012 report by Civic Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center, America's Promise Alliance and the Alliance for Excellent Education:

  • The high school graduation rate increased by 3.5 percentage points nationally from 2001 to 2009.
  • In 2001, the rate was 72.0 percent; by 2009, it had risen to 75.5 percent. From 2002 to 2009, six states experienced large gains in their graduation rates; 14 states made moderate gains; and four states made modest gains. (Note: 2002 was the first year that state data became available.)
  • And the number of "dropout factory" high schools (a high school where 12th-grade enrollment is 60 percent or less than the 9th-grade enrollment three years previously) dropped from 2,007 to 1,550 from 2002 to 2010 – a 23 percent decrease.

1 According to a March 19, 2012, report by Civic Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center, America's Promise Alliance and the Alliance for Excellent Education
2 "The College Payoff," Georgetown University Center on Education and Workforce [August 2011]
3 "STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future," U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration [July 2011]

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