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October 29, 2007 03:56 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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1 in 10 schools are 'dropout factories'

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, AP Education Writer 16 minutes ago

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 description fits 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 Johns Hopkins researcher who coined the term "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, about the same level as a decade ago.

While some of the missing students transferred, most dropped out, says Balfanz. The data look at senior classes for three years in a row to make sure local events like plant closures aren'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.

"Part of the problem we've had here is, we live in a state that culturally and traditionally has not valued a high school education," said Jim Foster, a spokesman for the South Carolina department of education. He noted that residents in that state previously could get good jobs in textile mills without a high school degree, but that those jobs are gone today.

Washington hasn't focused much attention on the problem. The No Child Left Behind Act, for example, pays much more attention to educating younger students. But that appears to be changing.

House and Senate proposals to renew the 5-year-old No Child law would give high schools more federal money and put more pressure on them to improve on graduation performance, and the Bush administration supports that idea.

The current NCLB law imposes serious consequences on schools that report low scores on math and reading tests, and this fallout can include replacement of teachers or principals — or both. But the law doesn't have the same kind of enforcement teeth when it comes to graduation rates.

Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma. For Hispanic and black students, the proportion drops to about half.

The legislative proposals circulating in Congress would:

_Make sure schools report their graduation rates by racial, ethnic, and other subgroups and are judged on those results. That's to ensure that schools aren't just graduating white students in high numbers, but also are working to ensure that minority students get diplomas.

_Get states to build data systems to keep track of students throughout their school years and more accurately measure graduation and dropout rates.

_Ensure that states count graduation rates in a uniform way. States have used a variety of formulas, including counting the percentage of entering seniors who get a diploma. That measurement ignores the obvious fact that kids who drop out typically do so before their senior year.

_Create strong progress goals for graduation rates and impose sanctions on schools that miss those benchmarks. Most states currently lack meaningful goals, according to The Education Trust, a nonprofit group that advocates for poor and minority children.

The current law requires testing in reading and math once in high school, and those tests take on added importance because of the serious consequences for a school of failure. Critics say that creates a perverse incentive for schools to encourage kids to drop out before they bring down a school's scores.

"The vast majority of educators do not want to push out kids, but the pressures to raise test scores above all else are intense," said Bethany Little, vice president for policy at the Alliance for Excellent Education, an advocacy group focused on high schools. "To know if a high school is doing its job, we need to consider test scores and graduation rates equally."

Little said some students pushed out of high schools are encouraged to enroll in programs that prepare them to take the GED exam. People who pass that test get certificates indicating they have high-school level academic skills. But the research shows that getting a GED doesn't lead to the kind of job or college success associated with a regular diploma.

Loretta Singletary, 17, enrolled in a GED program after dropping out of a Washington, D.C. high school that she describes as huge, chaotic and violent. "Girls got jumped. Boys got jumped, teachers (were) fighting and hitting students," she said.

She said teachers had low expectations for students, which led to dull classes. "They were teaching me stuff I already knew ... basic nouns, simple adjectives."

Singletary said a subject she loved was science but she wasn't offered it, and complaints to administrators went unanswered. "I was interested in experiments," she said. "I didn't have science in 9th or 10th grade."

A GED classmate of Singletary's is 23-year-old Dontike Miller, who attended and left two D.C. high schools on the dropout factory list. Miller was brought up by a single mother who used drugs, and he says teachers and counselors seemed oblivious to what was going on in his life.

He would have liked for someone to sit him down and say, "'You really need to go to class. We're going to work with you. We're going to help you'," Miller said. Instead,"I had nobody."

Teachers and administrators at Baltimore Talent Development High School, where 90 percent of kids are on track toward graduating on time, are working hard to make sure students don't have an experience like Miller's.

The school, which sits in the middle of a high-crime, impoverished neighborhood two miles west of downtown Baltimore, was founded by Balfanz and others four years ago as a laboratory for getting kids out on time with a diploma and ready for college.

Teachers, students and administrators at the school know each other well.

"I know teachers that have knocked on people's doors. They want us to succeed," 12th-grader Jasmine Coleman said during a lunchtime chat in the cafeteria.

Fellow senior Victoria Haynes says she likes the way the school organizes teachers in teams of four, with each team of teachers assigned to a group of 75 students. The teachers work across subject areas, meaning English and math teachers, for example, collaborate on lessons and discuss individual students' needs.

"They all concentrate on what's best for us together," Haynes said. "It's very family oriented. We feel really close to them."

Teachers, too, say it works.

"I know the students a lot better, because I know the teachers who teach them," said 10th-grade English teacher Jenni Williams. "Everyone's on the same page, so it's not like you're alone in your mission."

That mission can be daunting. The majority of students who enter Baltimore Talent Development in ninth grade are reading at a fifth- or sixth-grade level.

To get caught up, students have 80-minute lessons in reading and math, instead of the typical 45 minutes. They also get additional time with specialists if needed.

The fact that kids are entering high schools with such poor literacy skills raises questions about how much catch-up work high schools can be expected to do and whether more pressure should be placed on middle schools and even elementary schools, say some high-school principals.

"We're at the end of the process," says Mel Riddile, principal of T.C. Williams High School, a large public school in Alexandria, Va. "People don't walk into 9th grade and suddenly have a reading problem."

Other challenges to high schools come from outside the school system. In high-poverty districts, some students believe it's more important to work than to stay in school, or they are lured away by gang activity or other kinds of peer or family pressure.

At Baltimore Talent Development, administrators try to set mini-milestones and celebrations for students so they stay motivated. These include more fashionable uniforms with each promotion to the next grade, pins for completing special programs and pizza parties to celebrate good attendance records.

"The kids are just starved for recognition and attention. Little social rewards matter to them," said Balfanz.

Balfanz says, however, that students understand the biggest reward they can collect is the piece of paper handed to them on graduation day.

Without it, "there's not much work for you anymore," he said. "There's no way out of the cycle of poverty if you don't have a high school diploma."



"Government is best which governs least" Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience
October 29, 2007 04:30 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 14, 2007
And so the cycle continues: schools back off on teaching the basics and focus more on Little Johnny and Susie "feeling good" about themselves ----> remove any and all signs of competition and drive to achieve -----> Little Johnny and Susie rightfully start seeing school is nothing but a farce and drop out ----> no jobs for anyone who dropped out ----> take a minimum wage dead end job or go on welfare -----> never having been inspired to do anything with their life, they have no clue how to instill a work ethic into their kids -----> kids end up dropping out as well.  And the powers that be wonder where things went wrong.  DUH!!! They are all  







"A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders." Larry Elder
October 29, 2007 05:01 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 17, 2007
Is this a good time to get rid of the Department of Education?

-What is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations. -Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. -There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare. -quotes from the Art of War by Sun Tzu, 6th century BC Chinese General and war strategist.
October 29, 2007 05:04 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 14, 2007
Not necessarily.  But it's definitely a good time to stop kowtowing to the teachers unions in this country and the PC morons on local school boards!

"A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders." Larry Elder
October 30, 2007 09:43 AM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 28, 2007

What does the drop out rate have to do with another language? How does that work? It does not even begin to make sence.

It's funny how we target one language to blame for our problems, but leave out any other language that is being taught, such as French, which is the other major language being taught in our schools.



Love in Christ,

Phil C.
October 30, 2007 10:14 AM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 14, 2007
Phil, I don't think anyone is talking about teaching Spanish or French or Russian or German or Latin or any other language.  The problem is ESL....teaching math IN Spanish or French or Russian, etc.....teaching science IN another language, etc.

"A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders." Larry Elder
October 30, 2007 11:23 AM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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Phil Covone said:

What does the drop out rate have to do with another language? How does that work? It does not even begin to make sence.

It's funny how we target one language to blame for our problems, but leave out any other language that is being taught, such as French, which is the other major language being taught in our schools.

 

Phil,

If you are making reference to what I said about no hablo inglais, my statement was about the fact that unless the Hispanics can speak English, or the school furnishes an interpreter, these Hispanics will have a higher drop out rate that any other group.

Most all of the other nationalities that come to America have at least some knowledge of the English language before they get here, and if they don't, they go to great lengths to learn the language.

I know a lot of people who came here from Viet Nam who couldn't speak a word of English upon arrival. One woman in particular, only knew two phrases, Good morning and bathroom, when she came to work where I was working. That was 12 years ago. She now speaks almost fluent English along with a lot of her friends. It seems that the women and children learn the language much faster than men. I don't know if they are smarter than us, or we men are just to lazy to learn another language, but anyway, it seems that everyone but the Hispanics are eager to learn English.



"Government is best which governs least" Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience
October 30, 2007 12:51 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 28, 2007
Comment updated October 30, 2007 12:53 PM
John07 said:
Phil Covone said:

What does the drop out rate have to do with another language? How does that work? It does not even begin to make sence.

It's funny how we target one language to blame for our problems, but leave out any other language that is being taught, such as French, which is the other major language being taught in our schools.

 

Phil,

If you are making reference to what I said about no hablo inglais, my statement was about the fact that unless the Hispanics can speak English, or the school furnishes an interpreter, these Hispanics will have a higher drop out rate that any other group.

Most all of the other nationalities that come to America have at least some knowledge of the English language before they get here, and if they don't, they go to great lengths to learn the language.

I know a lot of people who came here from Viet Nam who couldn't speak a word of English upon arrival. One woman in particular, only knew two phrases, Good morning and bathroom, when she came to work where I was working. That was 12 years ago. She now speaks almost fluent English along with a lot of her friends. It seems that the women and children learn the language much faster than men. I don't know if they are smarter than us, or we men are just to lazy to learn another language, but anyway, it seems that everyone but the Hispanics are eager to learn English.

 

Yeah, John, but I also know many Hispanics who came here knowing no English at all and today speak it better tham many Americans I know. Look at the amount of American drop-outs there are in this country.

Why are we not outraged at the fact that English speaking Americans are dropping out of school by the hundreds of thousands every year? It's understandable why non-English speakers would drop out of school, but there is no excuse for English speakers to drop out, and most of them that do drop out are functionally illiterate when they do.

Before we start requiring foreigners to learn English, let's make sure we Americans are learning English. Man, if you don't thinks it's a problem among Americans, just pay attention to some of the posts you read. Some of them need to go back to school.



Love in Christ,

Phil C.
October 30, 2007 03:47 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 26, 2007

Phil,

I,too, am outraged by the failure of our schools. But the biggest problem I see is bad teachers and uninvolved parents.

I don't know if you have any school aged children or grandchildren, but I am raising my grandson. And I see a lot of crap in the public school system. My grandson goes to a magnet school, but it is still part of the county schools. The big difference is the quality of teachers and parental involvement. Like I have stated before, this school requires that the parents volunteer a minimum of 18 hours a year for the child to attend the school. There are several magnet schools in our area, and they have the highest graduation rate of the entire county.

The one thing that bothers me about the school as well as all the schools, is the abscence of text books. When my grandson brings home his homework, it is a page that has been torn out of a workbook. This makes it especially hard on parents when the child doesn't understand or remember the instructions on what to do. My grandson is in the fifth grade, and they do things I didn't do until high school. But, thank God and Al Gore for the internet. I can find most of what is needed there. They are already doing geometry and algebra, and I had problems with that in the tenth and eleventh grade, and that was over forty years ago. Thankfully, the teachers are accesible either at school or by email, so if there is a problem I can't figure out, they are there. The parents also have their phone numbers if they need to call them.

If all the schools were run like this, the drop out rate would be cut drastically.



"Government is best which governs least" Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience
October 30, 2007 03:57 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 12, 2007
Comment updated October 30, 2007 04:09 PM

The problem of high dropout rates boils down to a very narrow blame game.

1. Loser parents that do not demand excellence for their children. No    

    support at home.

2. Children from divorced homes and absentee fathers and mothers.

3. No standards in the homes where the children live.

It was reported on CNN the other night that 70% of black children do not have dad living in the house they come home too. Any wonder the prison rates are through the roof there?

Quit blamming the schools for the laziness and irresponsible approach by the parents that have become legions of loser role models. It begins at home and ends there too.

If kids are here illegally send them home . Make it impossible for their parents to have employment here. This begins with huge prison sentences for those found employing them. I favor executing repeat offenders. Promise you I can fix this BS in uder 5 years. Consider it treason to do so. Lets start there. I favor the get a rope approach. Enough of this panty waste approach to handling foreign invaders and treasonous Americans.

October 30, 2007 04:16 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 14, 2007
Right on Dane.  When will you be running for office?  I think Bill Cosby would get behind you too!

"A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders." Larry Elder
October 30, 2007 04:46 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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May 16, 2007
Enabling is the word for which I think everyone is searching.  Parents who don't demand excellence and support their kids are enabling a lifestyle that leads to failure.  Schools that try to be politically correct are also enabling behavior that leads to failure.  Politicians that pander to teachers unions and families are enabling them to enable student behavior guaranteed to lead to failure.

"There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: The bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen." -- Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) "In general, Democrats are the only real reason to vote for Republicans." -- Thomas Sowell FeedFwd: a born again coonass trapped in Austin, TX, USA
October 30, 2007 04:50 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 26, 2007
DANE said:

The problem of high dropout rates boils down to a very narrow blame game.

1. Loser parents that do not demand excellence for their children. No    

    support at home.

2. Children from divorced homes and absentee fathers and mothers.

3. No standards in the homes where the children live.

It was reported on CNN the other night that 70% of black children do not have dad living in the house they come home too. Any wonder the prison rates are through the roof there?

Quit blamming the schools for the laziness and irresponsible approach by the parents that have become legions of loser role models. It begins at home and ends there too.

If kids are here illegally send them home . Make it impossible for their parents to have employment here. This begins with huge prison sentences for those found employing them. I favor executing repeat offenders. Promise you I can fix this BS in uder 5 years. Consider it treason to do so. Lets start there. I favor the get a rope approach. Enough of this panty waste approach to handling foreign invaders and treasonous Americans.

 

Please go back and read what I said. I place the blame on uninvolved parents as well as bad teachers. I just didn't state it as bluntly as you about the parents. I agree, that it begins and ends at home, but right in the middle of it, still remains the teachers. And, quite frankly, I wouldn't let a lot of these so called educators teach my dog to sit or fetch.

The teahcers are still there because of the teachers union. They can't be fired unless they do something illegal. And, if they would stick to the three Rs instead of teaching political correctness and inclusiveness, and stop forcing the homosexual agenda on kindergarten kids it might make a difference, too, as far as learning.

I don't see where divorce has anything to do with it. I know a lot of kids who are from broken homes, and they are still excelling in school. That's because the parent they are living with, and a lot of the time the absent parent, is still involved in their child's education. It is the parents responsibility to see to it their children do their school work and understand what they are doing. It is also the teacher's responsibility to teach in a way a child can grasp what they are to learn, and if the child is having problems, to provide the best help.

I agree about the illegals. They should be sent back. I believe this to be a big hindrance to the education of those who are here rightfully.

As far as blamming the schools, they are as much to blame as anyone for their laziness and not caring if the kids learn or not. A lot of the teachers will pass over the slow students in favor of those they don't have to spend much time on. Some children just have trouble learning certain things and need more help. So yes, the schools are to blame for some of it, but the biggest responsibility lies with the parents.



"Government is best which governs least" Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience
October 30, 2007 09:18 PM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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October 30, 2007
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that the current "No Child Left Behind" has done next to nothing to keep students in school. While NCLB is only applied to K-8, what students are doing during those nine years leaves them capable of  passing a standardized test, sure. Unfortunately, they have little ability to reason, and the majority of their schooling has been "skill & drill" in order to pass THE TEST. Teachers' hands are tied because principals are in danger of losing their jobs should students not score high enough. The pressure results in less than creative/sensitive teaching because there simply isn't time. If it's not on that test, it's just not important in the classroom anymore.
October 31, 2007 12:47 AM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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The government does not make excellence! I worked in the DOJ 8 years. Buildings full of people doing nothing! Pooh butts that are supposed to be about something. Excellence is instilled by parents and parenting. I left the DOJ because they were beneath my standards. What I saw depressed me. I do commissioned sales these days and get payed exactly what I am worth. Sales is are unforgiving, ruthless, hard. However, you have to be sharp and use your head and work or you lose with no second chances. I wouldnt have it any other way. Excellence is earned when the chips are down and you get that second wind.
October 31, 2007 01:04 AM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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Bad Curriculum (Teaching everything but education) (rewriting history etc)

Bad Teachers (Unions)

Bad Environment (Crime and chaos)

Bad Parents (Overworked, lazy, uninterested)

Lack of Alternatives  (Government run)(What does the Government run effeciently?)

What other results could you expect? (That's the better schools) *(Imagine the 1 out of 10).



"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams
October 31, 2007 01:09 AM Post Deleted by Moderator
October 31, 2007 01:09 AM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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John07 
 
I am not knocking you brother. I beleive the root cause of failing kids are parents and lack thereof.
October 31, 2007 08:33 AM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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DANE said:
John07 
 
I am not knocking you brother. I beleive the root cause of failing kids are parents and lack thereof.

 

Dane,

I agree with you on the parent issue. I believe that everything begins in the home, be it education, religion, or work ethics. And what I have seen scince the dawn of government entiltlements, welfare, food stamps, AFDC, and a host of others freebees from the government, is that it has created several generations of lazy and ignorant people. Why should they study and work hard when they know people like us are going to be forced to support them through our taxes? And, things will only get worse as long as socialist democrats and RINOs continue to get elected.

But still, teachers figure into the equation. I have known lots of kids in bad home environments that had teachers that were dedicated to teaching, and that would reach out to these kids in a way that they overcame their situation at home and went on to win college scholarships. But it comes down to a choice with the kid, what kind of life do you want? Do you want to live a better life free from bondage of poverty and ignorance, or do you want to continue to wallow in the mire? Welfare is a vicious cycle that rarely helps anyone.

But, the home environment is still the prevailing influence. When all a child hears is cussing and fighting, and all they see is drug abuse and alcohol, and spouse abuse, the cycle keeps repeating in most cases. I was raised by a step-father who had a very strong work ethic. He almost always worked two jobs. My real father, on the other hand was worthless. I choose to follow after my step-father, and with the exception of a couple of times, have always worked scince I was 9 years old. I finished high school at one of the toughest schools in North Georgia, and I feel it was because of the home influence. I also give a lot of credit to one teacher, who kept me from dropping out my senior year. She was one of those rare teachers who gave 150%, and cared for her students and their future. You don't find many like that anymore.



"Government is best which governs least" Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience
October 31, 2007 08:36 AM    View printable version     Link to this comment   
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February 26, 2007
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The report came out here in Chattanooga yesterday that 14% of our schools are considered drop out factories. I know each of the schools well, and I also know the situation as far as students and teachers.

"Government is best which governs least" Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience

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