Posted by Tina
The battle over fixing the problems in our schools continues as the numbers of kids dropping out continues to be way too high. Until now statistics regarding dropout rates were the product of guestimates. As the Los Angeles Times reports today the new numbers are accurate because they are based on individual pupil records and they are “dismal”:
Californias dropout count – LA Times
California finally has a realistic picture of its high-school dropout rate, and it isn’t pretty. Close to a fourth of our students fail to graduate, far more than the state has been reporting to the federal government. The number for Latino students rises to 30%, and for African American youngsters, it’s nothing less than dismal: 41.6%. The figures make clear that the dropout problem isn’t limited to pockets of the state; it is a cloud over all of California that threatens our civic and economic future. *** This year, for the first time, the state used student identification numbers to track those who went missing. And as unhappy as we are with the resulting figures, the state Department of Education deserves credit for ferreting out the truth. *** The data are available online. Dropouts are defined as students who left school and are not known to be enrolled in other programs that lead to a diploma. Not counted are those who can’t be tracked, such as students who say they’re leaving the state or attending a private school. *** Teachers cannot put an end to gangs or mend troubled families or solve poverty; yet all of these are elements of academic failure. *** But schools can and in some cases do make a big difference. San Jose Unified School District, for example, is an urban district with a 13% dropout rate. Yet despite the common wisdom that higher standards prompt more teenagers to drop out, San Jose pushes all of its students to complete a college-prep curriculum. Its Latino students are nearly twice as likely to do so as their counterparts across California, and their dropout rate, at 19.5%, is more than 10 points lower than the statewide figure and 15 points lower than L.A. Unified’s.