Clemson University in South Carolina is partnering with the New Look Foundation, established by recording artist Usher. The partnership will develop high school courses on popular culture that will prepare students for careers in the music industry. The goal is to develop a curriculum that will interest students and help reduce the high school dropout rate of Black and other minority youth.
The new curriculum will include the study of marketing, communication, creative design, mathematics, and language skills and their relationship to the music industry.
The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network at Clemson, plans to have the curriculum ready for distribution to high schools by the fall of 2014.