1 in 10 Schools Are 'Dropout Factories'

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: LAT/AP

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, AP Education Writer
October 29, 2007

WASHINGTON -- It's a nickname no principal could be proud of: "Dropout Factory," a high school where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. That dubious distinction applies to more than one in 10 high schools across America.

"If you're born in a neighborhood or town where the only high school is one where graduation is not the norm, how is this living in the land of equal opportunity?" asks Bob Balfanz, the researcher at Johns Hopkins University who defines such a school as a "dropout factory."

There are about 1,700 regular or vocational high schools nationwide that fit that description, according to an analysis of Education Department data conducted by Johns Hopkins for The Associated Press. That's 12 percent of all such schools, no more than a decade ago but no less, either.

While some of the missing students transferred, most dropped out, Balfanz says. The data tracked senior classes for three years in a row -- 2004, 2005 and 2006 -- to make sure local events like plant closures weren't to blame for the low retention rates.

The highest concentration of dropout factories is in large cities or high-poverty rural areas in the South and Southwest. Most have high proportions of minority students. These schools are tougher to turn around, because their students face challenges well beyond the academic ones -- the need to work as well as go to school, for example, or a need for social services....

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11oct29,0,7330023.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines

[lovuian]

1. I agree

they are not being educated

[hack89]

2. With two school age kids..

I am so thankful I live in a community where education and support for the schools is a high priority.

[Nevernose]

3. The cycle of poverty is the cycle of ignorance

Broad-brushing here:

People are poor because they are uneducated, and people who are poor rarely value education the same way that better-off people do.

Maybe someone reading this can find a copy of the scatter-graph that shows the relationship between a student's SES and how successful their school is. It's as close to a perfect correlation as you can get. An awful lot of research has gone into this in the last few years, and a few things are true all over the "Urban" settings (and are shared by the rural poor):

Parents (and therefore students) often have a great distrust of the educational system; if they had bad experiences, then why would they expect their kids to have good ones?

Parents don't have the skills that the rest of us learned (arguably in college ;)) to navigate the horrific bureaucracy that schools have become (largely in an effort to "not get sued"). Not school districts, but individual schools.

Studies have shown (and to be fair are disputed) that high-stakes testing actually lowers learning when compared to students that don't have to prepare for standardized tests.

Urban districts, being so large, are forced economically into passing everybody into the next highest grade. Urban high schools, for instance, frequently have to outright IGNORE any strict expectations regarding attendance or quality of work, because otherwise the grad rate would drop from 60% to 20% -- and an awful lot of people would lose their jobs (despite insane RW talking points regarding the evil Teacher's Unions).

Despite what laws say (and sometimes even official record books), poor and minority schools rarely receive equitable funding.

Poor and minority schools often have the most discipline problems, so the better, more experienced, teachers usually can get jobs at "better" schools (and w/o this, American education would simply shut down, because there would be virtually no one left to teach).

I've probably left something out -- 50 things, more likely -- but anyone who's read this much gets the point.

[XemaSab]

5. And the really horrible part, I think

is that growing up in a household with educated parents (an an educated parent) teaches you FAR more than school ever could.

I grew up in a house where we may not have always had money for good food, movies, expensive gadgets, etc. but there were always a few dollars left over for books. Fiction, nonfiction, you name it. And it's not just about literature either. History, geography, social studies, natural history... almost anything you can really learn out of a book I learned at least some of at home. I remember spending hours playing with the globe... going to this evening astronomy class at Chabot when I was about 9... French Day Camp when I was 11...

All these things are things that a less educated parent would be less able to provide. :(

[Nevernose]

9. And beyond experience, it's conversation

While more educated, affluent parents can provide more experiences and thus a better knowledge base (and numerous studies support that, as well), my gut feeling is that it's ultimately about what you hear your parents talking about.

Are they talking about Iraq, or are they discussing what's on TV tonight? Are they talking about the latest book they read, or are they talking about how to pay the bills?

Twelve percent of a kid's time, between the ages of 5 and 18, is spent in school. The rest of the time is spent learning from their surroundings, and that is dominated by parents. Almost 9/10s of students' time is not in school (at least according to my calculations -- but I am an arithmetic moron, so I could be wrong).

Some countries do better than us academically, others do worse. But has ANY country figured out a successful way to break the cycle of poverty?

[XemaSab]

11. There was an excellent article about this in Harper's a few years ago

Talking about the percent of time kids spend in school vs the amount of time they spend out of school, and what they learn in each place.

Here we are:

http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm

(At least I think this is it :P )

[NorthernSpy]

16. yeah, I'm sure Barbie and Ken Affluent have quite the Lyceum going on at their place...

While more educated, affluent parents can provide more experiences and thus a better knowledge base (and numerous studies support that, as well), my gut feeling is that it's ultimately about what you hear your parents talking about.

Are they talking about Iraq, or are they discussing what's on TV tonight? Are they talking about the latest book they read, or are they talking about how to pay the bills?

Making it especially interesting to consider which demographic groups proved dumb enough to buy the Iraq war propaganda, and which didn't.

[NoGodsNoMasters]

10. Right on.

[enki23]

12. it's not a fucking mystery.

SES is tied to school success because school success is tied to local property taxes. enough of the anti public school bullshit. the countries which consistently kick our asses in education don't do it with goddamned private schools.

[Trillo]

13. This isn't "anti-school bullshit"

The overall way that I read much of it is 'anti-compulsory schooling', even the dropout rate of some of these schools is a phenomenon of compulsory schooling.

One of the first steps, if not the first goal, in creating a corporatist nation is ensuring submission to authority, another step is to get the vast majority used to working for less money, all of this is achieved in a 'kinder and gentler way' when people are young and their brains are still developing.

The essay by John Taylor Gatto linked above is a very good short essay to think deeply about. Thinking deeply is one thing schools' structured environments discourage by interrupting thinking after 45 minutes with a "bell" or "buzzer" to tell kids it's now time to move to 'thinking' about something else. Don't want those kids getting used to concentrating too hard, you know.

[bluestateguy]

4. That's it! We've solved the overcrowding problem in our schools!

Just make 'em so bad that most of the loser kids drop out! They were never going to amount to anything anyway!!!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
For the obtuse among you

[AngryAmish]

20. That is the was the Chicago Public Schools have been doing it for years

I am not joking.

[FREEWILL56]

6. So much for no child left behind as even more get out of the mess.

They care not of our children, but only their money that they can squander to their war chests and select special interest groups.

[ryanmuegge]

7. The myth of an inadequate public school system is the spread privatization warriors.

And why bother trying in school if all of the jobs outside of Wal-Mart and Mcdonald's are just sent to China anyway?

[pscot]

8. Schools in our area with military installations

or shrinking enrollments made the list. Not fair. The label "dropout factories" is unprofessional, and a gratuitous slap at troubled districts that could use a little help, rather than a headline-grabbing kick in the teeth. At the very least, the kids in these districts don't deserve this. Bob Balfranz must be a real prick.

[Fierce]

14. 1 in 10 schools *IS* 'dropout factory'!

JAYZUS!

[mikeytherat]

21. First thing I noticed, too: "One in ten ARE..."

It's really nice, though, that the L.A. Times hires these "one-in-10ers" as copy editors.

mikey_the_rat

[Deja Q]

15. That just means more billionaires looming.

Count the number of existing ones that dropped out of school and wince.

[davekriss]

18. I'm curious

There are around 540 billionaires in the U.S. today. How many of them dropped out of high school?

[Phx_Dem]

17. Arizona dropout figures disputed

When it comes to labeling a school's progress, "dropout factory" may be the meanest moniker yet.

In Arizona, 35 high schools, nearly one in five, found themselves on a "dropout factory" list released Monday by the Associated Press. The state ranked 12th worst in the nation in proportion of high schools where 60 percent or less of their freshman classes graduated four years later. The national average is about 70 percent.

The study, prepared for the AP by Johns Hopkins University, used Department of Education data.

Most of the schools on the list are in poor rural communities or inner-city neighborhoods, where kids traditionally struggle.

Two schools in Phoenix Union High School District, Camelback and Central, made the list, which angered district officials. "It's unfortunate. It's misleading," said Craig Pletenik, spokesman for the Phoenix Union district.

According to state and federal methods of calculating four-year dropout rates, Camelback and Central graduated 70 percent of kids entering as freshmen, Pletenik said. The AP study said most of the students who didn't make it to graduation dropped out, but Pletenik said the researchers failed to take into account students who opt for charter schools, move out of the state or city, or students who take five years to graduate.

"Just because someone leaves Central and goes to Sunnyslope doesn't mean they dropped out, not in this land of school choice," Pletenik said.

About 17 percent of the state's district and charter high schools were on the list. Nationally, the study labeled 12 percent of high schools as dropout factories. Researchers examined the graduating Classes of 2004 through 2006. Most of the nation's 1,700 dropout-factory high schools were in the South and Southwest. More than half of the high schools in Florida and South Carolina met the criteria of dropout factories. Utah was the only state without a school on the list.

Mesa's Boulder Canyon Learning Center, now called Superstition High School, made the list, too. It is designed to help students at risk for dropping out, and its graduating nearly half of the students is something to celebrate, spokeswoman Kathy Bareiss said.

Recent studies show Arizona's dropout rate, once the worst in the nation, is slowly improving.

"I think we get an A-plus-plus for the improvement we've had over the past five years," state schools chief Tom Horne said.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1030dropouts300.html

[nebula]

19. How many high schools are 'diploma' factories?

Where the diplomas are handed out as easily as Halloween candy?

That is, the standards for graduating are so low or the
quality of education at the school is so poor, that many mediocre
students who can't even read or write are being graduated?

Trick or treat!

[opihimoimoi]

22. Clearly, some schools were left behind....

[Quantess]

23. Why are students themselves not held accountable?

It's always the teachers' fault, and the schools' fault.

[Trillo]

24. Perhaps that's the other side of the "double-edged sword" of a compulsion,

of compulsory schooling, of removing choice from the matter of K-12 schooling.

A metaphor: If you learn that sticking your hand in fire gets it burned, and someone else forcibly sticks your hand in a fire and burns it, somehow the burn is your fault?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

25. how about the parents?

most classes who have 'active' parents behind their students do well. Many of these drop out students have real social issues.

[Quantess]

26. An 8th grader said she was going to drop out

and said that her mom agreed with her. "My mom thinks I should drop out. She says it's a waste of time".

[ohio2007]

28. Not many vocational oppotunities for an early ( 13-15 yr ) teenager is there ?

What was her plan? Live with her mom until she marry's money ?

[Quantess]

30. Not many!

I was shocked. I thought to myself, "your mom sounds like trash" but of course I didn't say it. And I think she stopped going to school not long afterward. That was back in the 1980s.

Who knows, with some families. For all I know, the mom wanted the girl to work the streets with her.

[ohio2007]

29. Some may BE parents already but I don't think many studies

open that can of worms when "profiling" the average drop out

[KamaAina]

27. Dumbest excuse so far: Hawai'i Dept. of Education

http://starbulletin.com/2007/10/30/news/story01.html

The state Education Department disputed the findings, noting that Hawaii ninth-graders tend to fall behind and inflate freshman enrollment. So comparing the number of freshman and seniors at any given year to determine dropout and graduation rates is misleading, said Education Department spokesman Greg Knudsen.

So, let me see if I've got this straight. You're telling me that the way they're calculating dropout rates isn't fair because so many kids are flunking and repeating ninth grade?! Uh, whatever.

[JPZenger]

31. Study did not take into account people who moved

One school superintendent said that this study did not take into account students who moved out of the school district before graduation. They just looked whether one particular student who started ninth grade finished 12th grade at that school.