Those are a few of the goals of the Rockefeller Foundation's Positive Deviance Initiative at Tufts University.

But the newest program on the list is closer to home than Addis Ababa: Decreased dropouts in Merced County.

The pilot program is the first of its kind in California and will have its headquarters at Merced High School.

"We have so many kids with potential that aren't successful in the classroom," said Sheila Whitley, a Merced High School math teacher who wrote the grant application. "They are good kids, but they are falling through the cracks."

In the 2006-2007 school year -- the most recent data available through the California Department of Education -- nearly 13 percent of students at Merced High School were expected to drop out before graduation.

The positive deviance grant was originally secured by the California Teachers Association, which had schools from across the state apply to be the pilot location.

Yale Wishnik, now retired from the CTA, wrote the original grant last year. The goal was to create high schools that are "dropout proof," he said.

"We've become experts on dropouts," Wishnik said, citing the daily conversations of teachers across the state on the topic. "What we decided was that we need to become experts on why kids stay in school. It is a very different approach."

In short, positive deviance is the idea that in every group of people there are positive outliers, said Mark Munger, senior associate of the Positive Deviance Initiative. The goal of the initiative's programs is to enable communities to solve seemingly intractable problems that require social and behavioral change.

Munger came to Merced last month to explain the principles of the program to the dozens of school employees and community members interested in helping with the dropout prevention program.

He said one thing is common in each of the projects his organization funds around the world.

"The faraway stick can not kill the snake," he said, quoting a proverb from Mozambique. "In other words, the solution to these problems is homegrown. The solution for Merced is in Merced."

Munger thinks the Merced community will see a measurable change in the dropout rate within the next year or two.

Whitley said it isn't a feat that will be done by teachers alone. Teachers will be trained to interview high-achieving students, identify their successful traits and create a plan to instill those traits in students throughout the school system.

The teachers will also interview community members for their take on how to tackle the dropout issue.

"What we really want to do is make a positive impact on the kids in our community and have more kids be successful in our schools," Whitley said. "Whether that is preparing for college or preparing for trade schools or graduating and being ready for the rest of their lives."

And the stick won't be a faraway one.