Student dropout rates at an all-time high

MALDEN – The Department of Education (DOE) announced Thursday that the Commonwealth’s dropout rate is at an all-time high, prompting education officials to call for a renewed focus on developing dropout prevention strategies.The annual dropout rate rose from 3.3 percent in 2006-2007 to 3.8 percent this year, in large part due to the state’s ability to obtain more accurate information regarding transfer students.In the past, students who transferred out of a school were not tracked, and not counted as dropouts, resulting in some inaccurate information reported by the state. Now, through the Student Information Management System (SIMS), Massachusetts has the ability to track students who say they are transferring to see if they actually enter another school, or simply drop out.This improved accuracy of the data means that this year’s dropout rate is the most accurate the department has ever released.”No matter what the dropout rate is, so long as any of our students are leaving high school before graduation, we have a serious problem,” said state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Chair Paul Reville. “Until we develop the right set of strategies to meet the needs of every student we will never be able to ensure that they all leave our schools ready for college and careers.”In all, 11,436 students in grades 9-12 dropped out of Massachusetts high schools during the 2006-2007 school year. Of that total, 2,781 were in12th grade, and 1,988 of those students (72 percent) had already earned competency determination by passing the English and math portions of the MCAS test.Among all students, 9.1 percent of Hispanic students, 6.4 percent of African American students, 2.7 percent of white students and 2.6 percent of Asian students drop out each year. While Hispanics have the highest population of dropouts within their demographic, white students actually had the most dropouts last year, 51.2 percent of the total number, followed by Hispanic students at 29.5 percent, African American students at 14.5 percent and 3 percent of Asian students.More male students, 57.8 percent, dropped out than female, and 33.3 percent of dropouts were either special education students or students with limited English proficiency.”To succeed in today’s economy, students need not just a high school diploma, but preferably a college degree,” said Acting Education Commissioner Jeffery Nellhaus. “Students who drop out are cutting short and it is up to us to find ways to stop them before they get out the door and never come back.”According to DOE standards, dropouts are students who leave school between July 1 and June 30 of a given school year and do not return to school, graduate or receive a GED by the following October. The annual dropout rate is different from the cohort graduation rate, which provides information on a particular group of students over the course of high school.The DOE calculates the dropout rate each year by dividing the number of students who drop out over a one-year period by the total enrollment by October 1 of the next year, multiplied by 100.