Live Chat Wed. 2 P.M. ET: Inside America’s Dropout Epidemic

Every year, hundreds of thousands of teenagers in the United States quit high school without diplomas — an epidemic so out of control that nobody knows the exact number. What is clear is that massive dropout rates can cripple individual career prospects and cloud the country’s future.

Last spring, FRONTLINE Producer Frank Koughan and his team spent a semester at Houston’s Sharpstown High School to explore a high-stakes experiment which is underway to rescue students from the edge and turn around one of the city’s worst performing schools.

“These are the kids that too many people have forgotten about for far too long,” says Koughan.  “Over the course of half a year at Sharpstown, we got to watch up close as an amazing group of teachers and administrators tried to save these kids and give them a future.”

What is at stake for students who drop out? What are the challenges they face? And what can be done to stem the tide of this national emergency?

Join Frank Koughan, Houston school administrators Brandi Brevard and Mark White, and John Bridgeland from Civic Enterprises for a live chat to discuss these questions — and answer yours.

We’ll also be joined by guest questioner Rehema Ellis, chief education correspondent, NBC News.

We’d like to thank NBC News Education Nation for partnering with us on this chat.

You can leave a question in the chat window below, and come by at 2 p.m. ET on Wed., Sept. 26 to join the live discussion.