Dr. Linda Cantu

The Power of Student Voices in Dropout Prevention – Podcast Episode 125 | Classnotes Podcast 125

Dr. Bradley ScottClassnotes Podcast (June 26, 2013) Six students received prizes in a national competition among participants in the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program, a nationally-recognized cross-age tutoring program of IDRA. In this annual contest, tutors write about how the program helped them do better in school and how they had helped their tutees to do better.

IDRA’s dropout prevention program, the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program, has a 98 percent success rate among students who were considered at risk of dropping out. Linda Cantú, Ph.D., director of the program, reads examples from some of the winning essays and shares her passion for the program. Linda is interviewed by Bradley Scott, Ph.D., director of the IDRA South Central Collaborative for Equity, provides and introduction.

Show length: 15:11

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Resources

Six Teens Win 2103 National Essay Contest Award
http://createsend.com/t/r-2D8D8A0E5C2EE3A22540EF23F30FEDED

The full text of all of the winning essays
http://www.idra.org/resource-center/six-teens-win-2013-national-essay-contest-award/

Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program
http://www.idra.org/coca-cola-valued-youth-program/

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Show Notes

  • Linda offers an overview of the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program, which was designed and developed by IDRA and is approaching its 30th anniversary. She also explains the creed of the program: “All students are valuable; none is expendable.”

  • Linda talks about the program’s annual essay contest that began in 2009, and how it empowers student tutors in the program to share their journeys and success stories.

  • Linda discusses the critical role that teachers play in supporting their students during the essay competition.

  • Linda names the winners of the 2013 essay contest, and reads excerpts from two of the winning essays.

  • Linda shares three takeaways from her discussion with Bradley.