| I think I can touch on some of the things that I have seen that happen in day high school that contribute to the student dropout rate.
I think that momof2inca is 100% correct on the social promotion issue as in elementary/middle school. For a long time as long as your child comes to school each day and doesn't burn down the building they have been in June and they go on to high school without basic skills.
The way students are programmed in high school. No one wants students to be programmed out of sequence and it has been my experience that APs do not want older kids programmed in classes with younger kids (especially freshmen).
For example: Freshman year, a kid is programmed for Algebra 1. If a kid fails algebra 1 in the fall term, s/he goes to algebra 2 in the spring term. Earth Algebra 2 culminates in a regents exam in June that covers the whole year of work. Student is already at a disadvantage because part 2 builds on part 1. Kid fails Algebra 1. Student takes the regents and fails the regents. Freshman students are at the bottom of the food chain for summer school, so will probably not get the opportunity to make the course up and retake over the summer. As long as student has 8 credits out of a possible 13 (as gym is a 1/2) credit they go on to 10th grade. So the kid who gets 8 credits by the skin of their teeth, and the kid who passes all 13 credits both go to 10th grade.
Sophomore year, kid goes on to living Geometry 1. In the mean time the kid probably should make up Algebra 1 & 2 because Geometry builds on the concepts learned in Algebra. Assist. Principal does not want sophomore kid to be programmed with the new freshmen, so kid needs to make up Algebra 1 in PM school or summer school (which will be at the end of sophomore year), so everthing runs in a vicious circle. At the end of sophomore year, kid must have 20 credits (which includes 4 english and 4 social studies credits) to become a junior. The kid who started the year with 13 credits as long as they pass english 3 & 4 along with global 3 & 4 they can paick up half of the credits taken for the year and be promoted at the end of the year. The kid who just got by freshman year, willl not only have to pass everything sophomore year, but may need to go to summer school to get promoted.
Failing english or social studies in sophomore year and not making up the credit is suppose an automatic hold over because they have not met the standards. Kids cry to GC, parents come up yelling an screaming "I can't beleive you are going to hold my kid over for 1 or 2 credits." Administration caves, and kid is promoted.
In the mean time a kid could very easily have a junior with no math credits.
Another thing that holds kids back- Bi-lingual education. If your child is in bi-lingual education. If the child goes to high school with a full bi-lingual program and the parent does not opt out, the kid with the exception of the 2 periods of ESL, the kid can essentially go through the whole day and never hear english, thus never gaining proficiency in reading and writing in english. With the exeption of the English regents (which must be taken in english), if the regents is given in your native language, as an ESL or Bi-lingual student, you can take the regents in your native language. English is one of the 5 regents you must pass in order to get a diploma. What happens, students are taking the english regents, 2, 3, 4 times and having their lunch eatten each time they take the exam.
Students are mis-programmed. It wasn't until I had super seniors on my caseload and I reviewed their transcripts that I saw that students were placed in courses that they previously passed a second time. I have seen students get placed back again and again with teachers who have failed them (unless there is no other alternative, I never place a student back with a teacher that just failed them because it is not a good situation for either the teacher or the student). I reviewed one kid's transcript who had the same teacher for 2 years straight and 3 out of the 4 terms, the kid failed the class. This was not a win-win for either side.
It is very disheartening for students who don't graduate with their class to come back in the building because everyone knows that the kid did not graduate. I have hear teachers say with in earshot of the kid, "I don't know why _________ is back here because s/he is never going to graduate." talk about a morale booster! | 
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