Re: California Dropouts

[Marilyn Langlois <langlois-rine@comcast.net>]

Thanks for posting this, George.

I looked into these numbers about 5 years ago, and got similar percentages
for several cohorts.

If you look at how many students are enrolled in 9th grade in any given
year, you'll find that four years later only about 2/3 that number of
students graduated.

Where are the remaining 1/3?  Dead?  In prison?  Surviving in the
underground economy?  Working at low-pay, low-skill jobs??

Marilyn

> From: George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>
> Reply-To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
> Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:59:52 -0800
> To: eninational@lists.riseup.net
> Cc: ca-resisters@serv1.ncte.org,<ca-resisters@interversity.org>
> Subject: [ca-resisters] California Dropouts
> 
> Editorial: Dropout problem gets some welcome attention
> 
> Published Thursday, February 28, 2008 in The Sacramento Bee
> Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6
> 
> 
> Incoming Senate President Pro Tem Darrell
> Steinberg, D-Sacramento, wants to make
> California's high school dropouts his top
> legislative priority, even in a tough budget
> year. Maybe Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Year of
> Education" can be rescued after all.
> 
> The fact is, too many California ninth-graders
> don't make it through high school and graduate
> with a diploma. Here's one four-year snapshot:
> California had 520,000 ninth-graders in 2002-03,
> but only 349,000 actually graduated in 2005-06.
> Somewhere along the way, California high schools
> lost more than 170,000 students.
> 
> What happened to them? California doesn't know.
> 
> That has to change. A policy committee of the
> California Dropout Research Project, which
> includes Steinberg and Sacramento County
> Superintendent David Gordon, presented good ideas
> Wednesday. (See lmri.ucsb.edu/dropouts.)
> 
> In a tight budget year, the main issue will be
> getting the information needed to track
> graduation rates accurately and improving accountability.
> 
> As Steinberg put it, "What doesn't count doesn't matter."
> 
> A big problem is that the current system (the
> Academic Performance Index) measures only test
> scores and not graduation rates. So high schools
> have an incentive to push students with lower
> test scores into alternative schools. The
> original school then has no responsibility for
> seeing that these students actually graduate.
> 
> Steinberg championed the successful Senate Bill
> 219, which would include dropout and graduation
> rates in the API and assign the test scores of
> alternative school students to the original high
> school, holding that school accountable no matter
> where students are sent. That law takes effect in
> 2011, when the state's data system is ready.
> 
> Now he's pressing Senate Bill 1251, which would
> add tracking of five- and six-year graduation
> rates to give schools an incentive to help
> students earn a diploma. (Some kids, especially
> English learners, may take longer than four years to graduate.)
> 
> The committee also wants to raise current graduation goals.
> 
> Schools are supposed to meet a graduation rate
> goal of 82.9 percent ? or show improvement of
> one-tenth of a percentage point per year. By that
> standard, a school with a graduation rate of 60
> percent could take more than 200 years to meet
> the state standard. That is unacceptable.
> Steinberg has introduced Senate Bill 1532, which
> would set more ambitious targets.
> 
> While the short-term budget picture is grim, by
> 2010 the picture for education improves
> dramatically. The Proposition 98 constitutional
> funding guarantee will enlarge the base for
> education by about $5.9 billion in permanent, new
> funding. Now is the time to prepare for that infusion.
> 
> The committee has many long-term recommendations,
> but here's a key one: Put extra effort into
> reaching kids in the transition from elementary
> to middle school. Attendance, grades and behavior
> at that stage are a significant predictor of dropping out.
> 
> It's good to see that key players don't intend to
> let lean times derail an ambitious "Year of Education."
> 
> 
> George Sheridan 
> 
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> Thanks in advance!
> -Eric Crump