4/26/06
School districts in Minnesota must take hard look at reducing their dropout rates
School districts need to take a hard look at their dropout rates in view of a recent study that shows Minnesota schools have a dropout rate of 16 percent.
That, believe it or not, ranks them in the top five in the country; the overall dropout rate in the nation is 30 percent. Three out of every 10 in this country do not graduate.
Time magazine and Oprah Winfrey are calling the ìDrop Out Nationî a crisis. Billionaire Bill Gates says schools designed for the 1950s need to change to keep American kids competitive in the world.
United States schools rank 24th in the world in mathematics, behind Canada, Germany and Poland.
Gates has organized a high school in California that has no books; all learning is electronic and the school sponsors no sports teams. While that kind of school may seem out of reach for most districts, keeping graduates competitive with world graduates deserves scrutiny and hard questioning from local school boards.
The good news is Minnesota graduates 84 percent of its high school students. Eighty-nine of the 450 high schools graduate 100 per cent.
Edina led the larger schools with no dropouts. Of the grades 7-12 charter schools, the PACT school in Ramsey was the largest that graduated all of its students.
Students who drop out of high school face a bleak future. Nearly half of all dropouts, ages 16 to 24 are unemployed. Those without a high school diploma are eight times more likely to go to jail. The data shows that 80 percent of prisoners are high school dropouts. Four out of 10 young adults who donít graduate get some type of government assistance.
Looking at the national studies, one-third of graduates are not ready for community college and only six percent of students in poor neighborhood schools will go on to college.
High school graduates on average make $9,200 more each year than high school dropouts.
Students drop out because they fall through the cracks, school doesnít interest them, they follow their friends who leave school and they are able to find good paying jobs.
Some states have raised the drop-out age to 18, and perhaps Minnesota should consider raising the bar to 18.
Charter schools authorized by the Legislature are another answer. PACT charter school in Ramsey led the state of all charter schools with 100 percent graduating last year. The K-12 site-based school with 540 students has 1400 on its waiting list. New students are chosen by lottery. Last year 30 of the 34 graduates went on to post-high school schools.
PACT school succeeds because it has smaller class sizes, has heavy parental involvement and ownership between parents and staff.
Time Magazine says there are five things schools can do: Have strong early literacy programs, create alternative high schools, detect future dropouts early and intervene, continue to support vocational education and get grown-ups involved.
Oprah Winfrey is correct when she says every American child deserves the best school and she urges parents to elect school boards who believe in childrenís future. -- Don Heinzman
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