1 in 4 students in state drop out
NEW CALIFORNIA DATA SHOW RATE WORSE FOR LATINOS, BLACKS
By Dana Hull and Sharon Noguchi
Mercury News
Article Launched: 07/17/2008 01:30:43 AM PDT

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.
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.
"It represents a tremendous loss of potential," said state schools chief Jack O'Connell in a conference call.
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.
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.
Overall, based on 2006-07 data, the state's graduation rate was 67.6 percent, and its estimated four-year dropout rate was 24.2 percent. The remaining 8.2 percent of students, such as those who failed to complete high school but earned a GED, fall into a third category known as "completers," or students who received some kind of certificate of attendance in lieu of a high school diploma.
"What is the reason for the dropouts?" asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during a press conference Wednesday. "Is it parenting, a lack of parenting? Is it that we don't have enough after-school programs to help the kids with their homework and with schoolwork? Is it that the teaching that is going on is too boring?"
County performance
in the East Side Union High School District down to 1.7 percent in the Los Gatos-Saratoga High School District.
The dropout rate is an estimate of the percent of students who would drop out in a four-year period based on data collected for a single year.
The true extent of California's dropout crisis has long been a politically charged guessing game. Schools complained there was no way to accurately determine if a student totally dropped out of school or simply moved out of state, out of the country or transferred to another out-of-town school. Critics charged that schools routinely low-balled their dropout figures by claiming that students had transferred.
The new system assigns each California student a nine-digit "student identifier" number that makes tracking them much easier.
"The establishment has hidden these numbers for a long time," said Bill Lucia of EdVoice. "This isn't just a high school issue. It's about whether or not high expectations are being set early enough."
In Silicon Valley 20.2 percent of students drop out before graduation, according to the new and more precise data. But the dropout rate for Latinos of 37.1 percent is most alarming.
"Latinos are our fastest growing demographic," said Santa Clara County schools chief Chuck Weis. "This means that 2,684 of our Latino students are virtually unemployable. It should really be a clarion call for us to look at what we're doing."
Weis said he was also alarmed that 642 of those students dropped out so early - in 9th grade.
"That means that early on in their high school career something is not connecting," said Weis. "Something is saying 'this place isn't for you.' We've got to find out what it is and how to change it."'
Because the data released Wednesday is the first using the computerized tracking system, it can't be compared to previous years. Still, it represents an enormous negative difference from previous estimates. In 2005-2006, the CDE reported a dropout rate of 13 percent.
Glitches remain
Yet the system still has glitches. The state counts as dropouts students like Hoangan Cao, who attended Overfelt High in San Jose for four years, but has yet to pass California's high school exit exam. She's taking classes at Evergreen Community College and hopes to pass the exam in two weeks. School districts have no way of tracking her or other students who continue at private schools, colleges or out-of-district adult education programs.
The dropout crisis not only afflicts large urban districts like Oakland and Los Angeles but touches every corner of the state.
"There's a lot of poverty in rural California," said Russell Rumberger, director of the California Dropout Research Project at the University of California-Santa Barbara. "We have a student population that requires more services and we're providing fewer. We've set up a huge system for failure."
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED
To download state, county, district, and school-level dropout data, visit the Department of Education's DataQuest Web site at: http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/

In some inner city Denver PUBLIC schools only 25 percent of incoming freshmen are still in school 4 years later to graduate. Private religious school graduation rates are still quite high. Jesuit taught schools have the highest record of graduation, the highest grade average, plus the greatest number of students that go on to college in Colorado. - Millet

Our son was having some trouble with reading comprehension and we decided to enroll him in a very rigorous program this summer that has some very impressive results. In checking out the program, there were some pretty frightening statistics presented. For instance, there are children with comprehension problems that may be behind 1 grade level in 4th grade but 8 grade levels by 12th grade. The system pushes them through without addressing their underlying learning problems but then they are unable to pass required tests for graduation and many will drop out. It seems the schooling system has failed us in many cases. There were many case examples presented in an open house. One girl was a senior and was going to drop out as she knew should would not graduate anyway. She spent six weeks in the program, or 117 hours, and improved her reading comprehension from that of a 4th grade level to 12th grade. Just think of the cost to society of these kids dropping out of school. They will either likely have very low paying jobs or end up in prison, though there are certainly highly successful business owners owned by people that never graduated (I know several). I know of school districts in Boise, ID and Pueblo, CO using this program in tests results between schools using the program and those not using it were very impressive. A superintendent from one of those districts is now in charge of the Vista district near you, Philip, and he wants to start the program there. I'd be interested in hearing if you have heard anything yet down there.

Warning: kids like the program but on a private basis it is very expensive. My wife will NOT be getting a new car this year!