One in 4 high school students drop out of school

Parent Cafe
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<p>Nearly 1 in 4 of California’s 6.3 million students drop out of school, according to new statistics released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.</p>

<p>The report, based on a new, more precise data system that tracks individual students, provides a more accurate snapshot of what educators consider a severe dropout crisis. The number is nearly double previous estimates.</p>

<p>“It represents a tremendous loss of potential,” said state schools chief Jack O’Connell in a conference call.</p>

<p>The dropout data plainly reveals, in the most stark terms ever, the depths of the achievement gap - the academic chasm that separates black and Latino students from their white and Asian peers.</p>

<p>For black students, the dropout rate is 41.6 percent. Latinos, who make up nearly half of California’s public school students, have a dropout rate of 30.3 percent - and in Santa Clara County the rate is 37.1 percent. Statewide, white students have a 15.2 percent dropout rate, while Asians have a 10.2 percent rate.</p>

<p>[Home</a> - San Jose Mercury News](<a href=“1 in 4 students in state drop out – The Mercury News”>1 in 4 students in state drop out – The Mercury News)</p>

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<p>Ok, while I cannot find the article from the link provided, did they state the main reasons or factors contributing to the drop out rate? For many students the major reason for dropping out is money to continue paying for school followed by family commitiments such as caring for the family. Often times low income students have jobs that directly contribute to maintaining the family. When the student goes to school a major source of income for the family is now lost.</p>

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<p>In the 90’s the San Mateo County Sequoia Unifed School District (just north of Silicon Valley) found that a high majority (70 ish percent) of their drop outs were their “gifted” youth. I’ll bet a high percentage of the 70% had unaddressed learning issues as well. To help lower the number of drop outs they created a magnet school for the gifted crowd in the elementary/middle school that feeds the hs and then created an IB program in the hs. I do not know the ultimate outcome … who their drop outs are now.</p>

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<p>Sybbie, these are high school kids, why would they drop out because of money to pay for school?</p>

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<p>My bad, I did not see high school at the top so I answered as it related to college students. As I also stated it would be nice to know the reasons and factors contributing to the high drop out rate.</p>

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<p>Sorry that the link to the Mercury News isn’t working. </p>

<p>The reason for the dropout rate isn’t clear, although there are many factors. Here’s from the SF Chronicle:</p>

<p>In the Vallejo City Unified School District, which has the Bay Area’s highest dropout rate at 42 percent, officials last week announced steps to address what they see as a leading cause of dropouts: students who fail in middle school being promoted to high school.</p>

<p>“So when they get to our high schools, they just hit a brick wall and begin to drop out,” said Jason Hodge, the district’s spokesman. “We have kids in ninth or 10th grade working at a sixth-grade level.”</p>

<p>[Dropout</a> data sound alarm, educators say](<a href=“http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/18/MN2G11R59L.DTL&hw=high+school+dropout+rate&sn=001&sc=1000]Dropout”>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/18/MN2G11R59L.DTL&hw=high+school+dropout+rate&sn=001&sc=1000)</p>

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<p>I SERIOUSLY doubt that statewide the dropouts are often gifted kids.</p>

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<p>jude, I can answer that question.</p>

<p>My Hispanic mom dropped out of school after eighth grade because she continued to fall further behind academically as she came from a family of migrant workers and could not return to school until October. So, yes, there are financial reasons why a child would need to drop out of school.</p>

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<p>youdon’tsay, I understand that, but I was addressing Sybbies comment, which was due to a misunderstanding of the OP.</p>

<p>I think a lot of kids drop out because they fall too far behind. I have a brother who left school because he struggled with reading… they kept passing him to the next grade until his Junior year. Junior year his teacher told him he was going to fail unless he did XYZ. So he did XYZ and the teacher failed him anyway. He never went back. And while that is anecdotal evidence, I think it’s pretty common for kids to keep getting passed along to the next grade until they just can’t get passed along anymore, and then it’s too late for them to get back on track.</p>

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<p>BTW, I plugged the first sentence of the original post into Yahoo, and the second link that popped up was to the relevant article. But it didn’t say anything about the cause of the high dropout rates.</p>

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<p>jude, my son and I were discussing social promotion just the other day. </p>

<p>He is working as a TA this summer at a Title I school summer camp and is amazed that these kids can’t add on grade level. I mentioned to him that these kids track to a high school that was closed last month by the state due to chronic academic failure. We talked about how the HS was being held responsible for the academic shortcoming of its students when, in reality, those problems first surfaced – and were never addressed – way before they walked through the HS’s doors. Such a shame. </p>

<p>I think he’s feeling an increased commitment to helping these kids on an ongoing basis. Some kids are just dealt a worse hand than others. The good news is that thanks in part to an ongoing effort between my son’s school and this elementary – kind of a little buddy collaboration – these kids are starting to get it, and their test scores are improving. The teachers I met last night at the open house for parents were dedicated educators. I have a lot of hope for this campus!!</p>

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<p>They determined that the drop outs in the Sequoia Unified district were strongly related to boredom. The hs was not considered rigorous with many outside influences… These “gifted” were not properly prepared, did not have the support to stay in school and were primarily from a minority population. My info is from the person in charge of the gifted school they started to address the issue.</p>

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<p>… so the middle school prep seems to very important along with catching learning issues. If a child can not read to grade level at a certain point, this should be red flagged and the parents/district need to investigate. </p>

<p>When I say “gifted”, I do not mean kids who take test well but kids with an innate intelligence and ability to contribute back. It is a shame kids get left in the dust because no one is paying attention and they just get moved along. </p>

<p>Well known that if you look at our prison population, you have the gifted who are “too smart for their own good” and the not very intelligent crowd … both ends of the spectrum.</p>

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<p>As a middle school teacher for the past 8 years (soon to be high school teacher this year), I can agree that it is the social promotion that contributes greatly to the later drop-out rate. At our school of 1,400 6-8 graders NOBODY is ever held back. A third of the students “earn” F’s in one or more core classes (English, math, history) and they are still allowed to go to the next grade, accept a certificate on stage at the 8th grade celebration, and basically pretend that everything is on track. They hit 9th grade and the F’s have teeth. They don’t get credits, slip far behind even with summer school and finally, with little to no real support at home, they drop out (often trying one or two levels of independent study/continuation programs before giving up). We middle school teachers have complained passionately about this for years and years but apparently there is enough evidence backed by research that shows retaining kids doesn’t work either, and they often drop out even sooner. </p>

<p>So I don’t know what the answer is. The kids I see in our district (which has an 11% dropout rate according to the new figures) who I believe will later drop out are often capable of learning but have given up. I see them in 6th grade, behind academically but still trying, and by 8th grade I have heard that they will sit in a chair and do nothing. Literally nothing but stare at a desk or a piece of paper (this happens in other teachers’ rooms because I won’t allow them to do this). The assignment might be to reflect in writing on what would happen without one of the articles of the First Amendment, and they COULD write some kind of response because they’ve spent 10 days learning about the First Amendment through activities, film, books, skits, whatever… but they don’t want to make the effort to think or, more likely, to produce. And there is no immediate consequence for the F… life goes on. Until the next year, when it doesn’t.</p>

<p>It’s very disheartening.</p>

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<p>I wish I had answers, too. </p>

<p>As I wrote before, we’ve been talking about this a lot because of ds’s summer job. He’s picked up on the kids’ unwillingness to write. The kids were really reluctant to journal at all. He coaxed them into giving him a verbal response to the prompt, so then he’d say, “Good! Write it down.” But they admitted they were worried about misspellings, etc. He told them that this exercise wasn’t all about perfect spelling and grammar at this point but about just getting their thoughts on paper. I really feel for these kids. I met many of the parents last night, and they all seemed very well-meaning (though language was an issue for many of them).</p>

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<p>The number is nearly double previous estimates … and probably a fraction of the real dropout numbers. </p>

<p>While the numbers are sobering, we should rejoice that the end of letting the State Departments of Education getting away with blatantly inflated statistics are numbered. Hopefully, the pseudo scientists and the hired guns who helped cover up the true crisis of our public education will be held accountable in some form. </p>

<p>Oops, I forgot that accountability is rarely part of the public education dictionary. Just as rare as integrity!</p>

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<p>Here’s a complementary statement:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.lmri.ucsb.edu/dropouts/Rumberger%20statement%20on%202006-07%20CDE%20dropout%20figures.pdf[/url]”>http://www.lmri.ucsb.edu/dropouts/Rumberger%20statement%20on%202006-07%20CDE%20dropout%20figures.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>A good report to read:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.lmri.ucsb.edu/dropouts/download.php?file=policyreport.pdf[/url]”>http://www.lmri.ucsb.edu/dropouts/download.php?file=policyreport.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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). </p>

<p>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. </p>

<p>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. </p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>In the mean time a kid could very easily have a junior with no math credits.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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!</p>