Wednesday, September 15, 1999
Dropout rates on the rise
Poverty, transiency contribute
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Annual dropout rates are rising in 34 of 48 southwest Ohio school districts, despite remaining fairly constant nationally this decade, an analysis by The Cincinnati Enquirer has found.
In four districts with rates higher than the 5 percent national average, the percentage of dropouts doubled in the past five years, according to a computer-assisted study of Ohio Department of Education (ODE) data from 1994 through 1998. Those districts are Batavia, Cincinnati, Reading and Three Rivers.
The increase is disturbing, experts say, because dropouts are more likely to work at lower-paying jobs — or have no jobs at all. They're also more likely to break the law.
Eighteen local districts have dropout rates higher than the national average. In Ohio, the dropout rate was 5.3 percent in 1998, up from 3.7 percent in 1994, according to ODE. The Kentucky Department of Education reported a 5.3 percent dropout rate in 1998, down from 5.5 percent in 1994.
Some educators complain that the dropout rates can be misleading because some districts are careless in reporting data to ODE. And those in smaller districts say even a few additional dropouts can alter their rates dramatically.
In districts where dropout rates doubled, administrators blamed growing proportions of low-income students, transiency, juvenile crime and tougher academic standards. Low unemployment and poor parental involvement contribute, experts add.
• Poverty. Dropout rates tend to be linked to family income. In 1997, the average annual dropout rate among low-income students was 12.3 percent, compared with 1.8 percent among high-income students, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Although median household income has consistently climbed in Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties in recent years, some districts with high dropout rates have growing proportions of low-income students.
In Lockland City Schools, which has a 10.6 percent dropout rate, about half the 800 students come from low-income families, while in Cincinnati Public Schools, it's 65 percent of 47,200 students. In both districts, that figure has inched up a few percentage points a year.
“We've seen a decline in the number of upper-income families in our community,” Lockland Superintendent Roy Hill said. “Since (General Electric) downsized in the early 1990s, industry — and employment — isn't what it used to be here. Problems in a community affect the schools in the community.”
• Transiency. Low-income families move more often, which often disrupts a child's education. Homelessness also is on the rise, especially among children.
Cincinnati Public Schools expects to serve more than 1,700 homeless children in its assistance programs this year.
In Batavia, student turnover — as high as 40 percent in some schools — contributes to a 8.5 percent dropout rate, according to Paul Sallada, the district's director of curriculum instruction.
In Three Rivers, a boom in residential development has increased turnover among students, said Richard Scherer, superintendent of the 2,700-student Three Rivers Local Schools.
• Crime. Although juvenile crime is falling nationally, delinquency cases in Hamilton County nearly doubled from 11,986 in 1985 to 21,448 in 1998.
• Tougher academic standards. “Without the proper supports in place in school systems, the new standards are raising the ceiling while cementing students' feet to the floor,” said Robert Peterkin of Harvard University Graduate School of Education's Urban Superintendents Program.
Tougher standards may explain why Reading's rate rose, Superintendent John Varis. The district also has implemented a zero-tolerance discipline policy, which he believes chased some kids with chronic behavior problems out of the district.
Low unemployment rates also raise dropout rates, because some teens would rather work than go to school, Mr. Peterkin added. Hamilton County's unemployment rate is 3.8 percent.
Some educators say dropout rates are an unreliable measure of a district's success with students because some administrators are careless in reporting.
Old data especially can be inaccurate, because few people ever saw the data, ODE Spokeswoman LeeAnne Rogers said.
That's the case in Cincinnati Public Schools, which reported a 0.6 percent dropout rate in 1994. The accurate figure is 11.9 percent, said Jack Louis, the district's director of research and evaluation. Reading's dropout figures were 4.8 percent in 1998, not the 10.6 percent reported to the state, Mr. Varis said.
Now, dozens of performance indicators — including dropout rates — are available on ODE's Web site (www.ode.ohio.gov). And school district report cards, which ODE issues to parents statewide, force districts to be more careful and correct. The cards include 27 performance indicators, including dropout data, proficiency test results and attendance rates.
Administrators add that percentages can be misleading in smaller districts.
“In small high schools, every student who drops out affects the statistics,” said Mr. Scherer of Three Rivers. “It's not cause for crisis or ringing alarm bells because our dropout rate rises a few percentage points. Our dropout rate has always fluctuated like that.”
For example, 9.3 percent of Cincinnati's 48,100 students dropped out in 1997-98. That's nearly 4,500 dropouts — more than three times higher than Reading's entire enrollment. (About 150 students dropped out of Reading schools the same year, or 10.6 percent of 1,424 students.)
Fewer parents get involved in schools nowadays, sending students the message that education isn't important, Reading's Mr. Varis said.
“We have two (nationally recognized) Blue-Ribbon schools. Almost 50 percent of our kids in (grades) 7 to 12 are on the honor roll. We are creating a strong environment for students to learn,” Mr. Varis said. “But there are students who make bad decisions. Is that the schools' fault? If a patient ignores the advice of his doctor, is it the doctor's fault?”
Local school leaders, who complain that they can't control family finances nor solve social ills, are tackling the problem from other angles.
Literacy in the early grades is key, educators agree.
Schools should strive to ensure students keep up because those who fall behind are more likely to drop out. That could mean smaller elementary classes, more summer schools, more remedial classes and expanded tutoring.
A “second-shift” high school offering night classes and flexible scheduling would accommodate students who drop out because of child care or employment needs, Cincinnati Federation of Teachers President Tom Mooney said.
Cincinnati Public Schools launched a middle school for students who are overage for their grade last month to alleviate one problem that leads to dropping out. Students will catch up on academics through an accelerated curriculum.
The “Back-on-Track” school, in Bloom Middle School in the West End, enrolls about 630 sixth- and seventh-graders who are at least a year behind their peers. The school is an expansion of a program that operated at Bloom.
“We're completely redoing the way we educate children, because what we've been doing isn't working. Proof of that is too many overage kids, resulting in too many dropouts,” Associate Superintendent Kathleen Ware said.
Seberina Jones sees Bloom as the key to her son's future academic success. The West End woman decided to keep her son, Jamaal Spivey, in third grade because he couldn't read at grade level. Jamaal, now 13, is in seventh grade and plans to catch up to ninth grade at Bloom by next summer.
“He's still a year behind, and it bothers him, because he has cousins that are the same age and they're in a different grade,” said Ms. Jones, whose two oldest children dropped out of high school. “I want him in Bloom because of the possibility that if you don't catch up, you could fall even further behind.”
Cincinnati City Councilman Phil Heimlich targeted dropouts and chronic truants for his Life Skills Center, set to open later this month in Walnut Hills. The charter school will be run by Akron industrialist David Brennan's firm, White Hat Management Co., which operates several charter schools statewide.
It's based on Mr. Brennan's ABOL (A Better Way of Life) program in Akron, which helps dropouts earn GEDs. The program offers job counseling, computer training and intense remediation and requires students to secure a job before graduating. About 100 students are expected to enroll in Life Skills the first year.
Districts in Lebanon, Norwood, Hamilton and Middletown offer alternative programs for overage or troubled students to catch up on course work.
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