24 percent of Calif. high school students drop out

[Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>]

24 percent of Calif. high school students drop out
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:43 p.m. July 16, 2008

LOS ANGELES ? More than 24 percent of California 
public high school students dropped out in the 
2006-07 school year, according to figures 
released Wednesday by the state Department of Education.

The data was compiled from a newly implemented 
tracking system that issues each student an 
identifier number. The number enables officials 
to monitor each student as he or she progresses 
through school, allowing for a more accurate accounting.

According to the new system that started tracking 
students in 2002, 67.6 percent of students 
graduated, 24.2 percent dropped out, and 8.2 
percent withdrew ? completing high school 
equivalency diplomas, moving out of state or transferring to private school.

The new data revealed high dropout rates for 
minority students: 41.3 percent of black 
students, 31.3 percent of Native Americans, 30.3 
percent of Hispanics, and 27.9 percent of Pacific 
Islanders. White students had a 15.2 percent 
dropout rate, while Asians had a 10.2 percent rate.

?Twenty-four percent of students dropping out is 
not good news,? said Superintendent of Education 
Jack O'Connell. ?In fact, any student dropping 
out is one too many and the data reveal a 
disturbingly high dropout rate for Latinos and African-Americans.?

Because the numbers are the first using the new 
computerized tracking system, no real comparison 
exists with the previous year.

State education officials have been criticized in 
the past for using self-reported, unaudited data 
from school districts that resulted in a 
graduation rate of 85 percent, which critics 
charged was deliberately inflated in order to 
comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The new numbers paint a more realistic picture of 
dropouts, but still underestimate the problem, 
said Alan Bonsteel, president of California Parents for Educational Choice.

He estimates the state's real dropout rate is 33 percent.

The state is downplaying the dropout rate by 
overestimating student withdrawals ? those who 
transfer, move or earn GEDs normally make up a 
tiny fraction of enrollment, he said.

The state is also not including middle-school 
dropouts, which Bonsteel put at 4 percent, to 
come up with a total dropout rate of 37 percent.

?We're seeing some improvement, but they still 
missed one third,? Bonsteel said.
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