1 in 10 Schools Are 'Dropout Factories'

[babylonsister]

1 in 10 Schools Are 'Dropout Factories'


NANCY ZUCKERBROD | October 29, 2007 08:32 PM EST | AP


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.

Utah, which has low poverty rates and fewer minorities than most states, is the only state without a dropout factory. Florida and South Carolina have the highest percentages. About half of high schools in those states classify as dropout factories.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071029/dropout-factories/

[The Straight Story]

1. Maybe we need less federal govt tied to schools, and more local control

Just a thought.

[SoCalDem]

3. I read once that the fed contribute 7%.. that leaves 93% to local/state

There's too much bullshit going on in schools these days..

Just hire teachers and let them teach... get the troublemakers together in alternative schools and at least teach them a trade (like communities used to do)..

Make schools about learning and not social interaction/fashion police/sports/dating-central..

and do not ALLOW them to drop out at 16..HOW the HELL is a 16 yr old dropout going to support themselves?

Some schools are merely conduits to jails..(private jails probably)..

[The Straight Story]

4. Schools have become silly thesedays

Examples from a thread I am working on: At my daughter's elementary school - only 2 celebrations a year (Winter Vacation and Valentines) with only food allowed to be brought in that was not home made. No costumes/makeup for Halloween at al. No birthday celebrations. Food brought in must meet strict guidelines. No show and tell until 4th grade (daughter is in 1st).

No wonder kids hate school.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. Too bad. When I was a kid (1960s and 70s) we celebrated every holiday. School activities went hand

in hand with cultural traditions at the time. Christmas songs, easter bunny, fourth of July.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Show and tell?

For 4th graders? I have taught elementary school for nearly 30 years. We don't have show and tell. That's a pre-school activity.

As for the other concerns you have, do you send your kid to school to have parties or to get an education? Talk about silly. Are we going to criticize schools for not educating or for not having enough parties? Can't do both.

Sorry but some of this bad school nonsense is pretty ridiculous. If you want your kid to have a Halloween party, then have a Halloween party. Why does the school have to do it? Sheesh.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. I have been lobbying the state legislature to raise the dropout age to 18 for over 20 years now

Seems like such a no brainer. Why in the world do we allow kids to drop out at 16 when we know they can't get a decent job without a high school diploma? We need to make them stay in school until they are 18 or graduate.

[Trillo]

2. Maybe they should offer high school students a class called,

"How to lie, cheat and steal like a fortune 500 CEO." They could offer a complimentary class called, "How to protect yourself from lying, cheating and stealing by your feudal boss." Then for graduation year, they could offer, "How to cheat your lying and abusive mid-level manager, or immediate supervisor, by taking them to court and winning."

Hopefully you realize I'm not being wholly sarcastic.

[BlueIris]

5. They practically did at my high school. All the AP classes should have been subheaded:

"How to Weasel Your Way Into the World of White Male Privilege Even Though Your Parents Were Too Cheap to Pay for You to go to Prep School Back East."

[Trillo]

6. Interesting. I was never offered any kind of AP class in public schools,

even though in private schools the 7th grade entrance exam reportedly claimed I had college level reading comprehension. It sure seems like such advanced placement classes would perpetuate a dual-track system of sorts.

Two things screamed out at me. First, the good:

To get caught up, students have 80-minute lessons in reading and math, instead of the typical 45 minutes.

Perhaps paper-pushing administrators should consider that a screaming bullhorn of a hint.

The contemptuous:

The fact that youths are entering high schools with such poor literacy skills raises questions about how much catch-up work high schools can be expected to do, say some high-school principals.

I'm so sick of reading about "poor literacy", it's the same invalidation we get from our fuedal bosses -- we're worthless. If high school graduation doesn't offer job prospects above minimum-wage, then where's the motivator to work while in school?

The real purpose of compulsory schooling seems much darker.

"Hence the state . . . used and forged many instruments of indoctrination--the family, the church, the school--to build in the soul of the citizen a habit of patriotic loyalty and pride." --Will Durant