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Oregon dropout rate falls
By Julia Silverman, AP Education Writer
Thursday, October 05, 2006 | No comments posted.
PORTLAND - Oregon's statewide dropout rate inched lower in the 2004-2005 school year, falling to 4.2 percent from 4.6 percent in the previous year, state education officials said Wednesday.
But the number doesn't mean that the remaining 95.8 percent of Oregon's high-school age students graduate with a diploma four years after they began.
The only students the state classifies as dropouts are those who leave the education system without getting either a “modified” diploma, traditionally given to special education students, or a G.E.D., or transferring to another school outside the state.
Students who choose those options account for about 15 percent of all high school graduates, according to state figures - leaving about 81 percent of the state's students graduating on time, with regular diplomas, from mainstream high schools.
The dropout rates also remain reliably higher among minority students, a persistent problem for state leaders, who said this year's figures show some progress. According to the state, 8.1 percent of the state's Hispanic students dropped out in the 2004-2005 school year, down from 9.6 percent the previous year.
The other big change came from the state's black students, 6 percent of whom dropped out in 2004-2005, down from 8.2 percent the year before.
Students who do drop out fill out exit surveys, which suggest some reasons for their early departures, including “too far behind in credits to catch up,” “lack of parental support for education” and “working more than 15 hours a week.”
The state's dropout rate has been on a steady downward march for the past decade; it was 7.4 percent in 1994-95. Policymakers have set a goal of reducing the rate to 4 percent by 2010.
In all, 7,318 students dropped out of high school during the 2004-05 school year, down from 7,864 dropouts the previous school year.
All over the country, schools and states are trying to attack the problem. In Georgia, for example, nearly 90 percent of high schools now have “graduation coaches,” who are charged with identifying potential dropouts and matching them with tutors and mentors. And Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to expand the program to the state's middle schools.
In Baltimore, high schools are experimenting with special focus and intervention for ninth-graders, which research has shown is the year when most students decide to give up. And in Vermont, legislators are considering plans to make 18 - instead of 16 - the legal age for dropping out of school.
But much of the talk these days centers on standardizing how states calculate their graduation rates. Currently, nearly every state has its own methods, making it difficult to compare them and draw conclusions.
The National Governors' Association has been pushing a new formula, where states would divide the number of students graduating with a diploma by the number who began high school four years beforehand.
Oregon divides the number of students receiving a regular diploma by the number who began 12th grade, plus the number of students from all grades who dropped out during the year. The idea, said Brian Reeder, an assistant superintendent for the Oregon Department of Education, is to use the current year's dropouts as “proxies,” representing all the students who've left over four years.
Oregon hasn't had the technological capability in the past to track individual students, Reeder said, and is still about two years away from being able to do so. But Reeder said he'll then recommend a switch to the method favored by the governors' group, even though it could cause a dip in the graduation rate.
“Given that it is a four-year look, it is inevitable that it will be lower than the 81 percent that we are at now,” Reeder said. “But what you really want to know is what share of ninth-graders from four years ago graduated. Ideally, you account for what happened to every student.”
Among traditional high schools in the state's largest cities, dropout rates were highest in Salem, with 179 dropouts reported at McKay High School, 140 at North Salem High and 103 at South Salem High. The Portland public school district reported losing 516 students from its “alternative” programs for high schoolers.
Forty-nine schools reported losing no students in the 2004-05 school year, most of them in the state's more rural areas.
--
On the Net:
http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/results/?id135
But the number doesn't mean that the remaining 95.8 percent of Oregon's high-school age students graduate with a diploma four years after they began.
The only students the state classifies as dropouts are those who leave the education system without getting either a “modified” diploma, traditionally given to special education students, or a G.E.D., or transferring to another school outside the state.
Students who choose those options account for about 15 percent of all high school graduates, according to state figures - leaving about 81 percent of the state's students graduating on time, with regular diplomas, from mainstream high schools.
The dropout rates also remain reliably higher among minority students, a persistent problem for state leaders, who said this year's figures show some progress. According to the state, 8.1 percent of the state's Hispanic students dropped out in the 2004-2005 school year, down from 9.6 percent the previous year.
The other big change came from the state's black students, 6 percent of whom dropped out in 2004-2005, down from 8.2 percent the year before.
Students who do drop out fill out exit surveys, which suggest some reasons for their early departures, including “too far behind in credits to catch up,” “lack of parental support for education” and “working more than 15 hours a week.”
The state's dropout rate has been on a steady downward march for the past decade; it was 7.4 percent in 1994-95. Policymakers have set a goal of reducing the rate to 4 percent by 2010.
In all, 7,318 students dropped out of high school during the 2004-05 school year, down from 7,864 dropouts the previous school year.
All over the country, schools and states are trying to attack the problem. In Georgia, for example, nearly 90 percent of high schools now have “graduation coaches,” who are charged with identifying potential dropouts and matching them with tutors and mentors. And Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to expand the program to the state's middle schools.
In Baltimore, high schools are experimenting with special focus and intervention for ninth-graders, which research has shown is the year when most students decide to give up. And in Vermont, legislators are considering plans to make 18 - instead of 16 - the legal age for dropping out of school.
But much of the talk these days centers on standardizing how states calculate their graduation rates. Currently, nearly every state has its own methods, making it difficult to compare them and draw conclusions.
The National Governors' Association has been pushing a new formula, where states would divide the number of students graduating with a diploma by the number who began high school four years beforehand.
Oregon divides the number of students receiving a regular diploma by the number who began 12th grade, plus the number of students from all grades who dropped out during the year. The idea, said Brian Reeder, an assistant superintendent for the Oregon Department of Education, is to use the current year's dropouts as “proxies,” representing all the students who've left over four years.
Oregon hasn't had the technological capability in the past to track individual students, Reeder said, and is still about two years away from being able to do so. But Reeder said he'll then recommend a switch to the method favored by the governors' group, even though it could cause a dip in the graduation rate.
“Given that it is a four-year look, it is inevitable that it will be lower than the 81 percent that we are at now,” Reeder said. “But what you really want to know is what share of ninth-graders from four years ago graduated. Ideally, you account for what happened to every student.”
Among traditional high schools in the state's largest cities, dropout rates were highest in Salem, with 179 dropouts reported at McKay High School, 140 at North Salem High and 103 at South Salem High. The Portland public school district reported losing 516 students from its “alternative” programs for high schoolers.
Forty-nine schools reported losing no students in the 2004-05 school year, most of them in the state's more rural areas.
--
On the Net:
http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/results/?id135
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