Number of Schools Often Referred to as “Dropout Factories” Fell

SCHOOLS WHERE 60% OR FEWER STUDENTS GRADUATE CONTINUES TO DECLINE

A report released today by America’s Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises and Johns Hopkins University’s Everyone Graduates Center shows the nation continues to make progress in its efforts to keep students in school. The report found that the number of high schools graduating 60 percent or less of students on time decreased by 112 between 2008 and 2009.

These schools—often identified as “lowest performing” or “dropout factories” – totaled 1,634 in 2009. This is down from 1,746 in 2008 and a high of 2,007 in 2002. As a result, 183,701 fewer students attended dropout factories in 2009 than 2008. These numbers and additional analysis are detailed in an update to the November 2010 report, Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, authored by Civic Enterprises and the Everyone Graduates Center, sponsored by AT&T.

“Our data and case studies show that improvement is continuing and even accelerating in some areas,” said Robert Balfanz, one of the authors of the update and a senior research scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Everyone Graduates Center. “This means that real progress is possible when school districts and community partners confront this crisis strategically and commit themselves to solving it.”

Other findings from the report update include:

-The West saw the greatest decline in the number of “dropout factory” schools with a 12.5 percentage-point decrease. The number of schools fell by 39 from 313 in 2008 to 274 in 2009.
-The Midwest marked a decline of 8.5 percentage points from 269 schools in 2008 to 247 in 2009.
-The Southeast continued to see improvement with a 4.8 percentage-point decline of 912 schools in 2008 to 868 in 2009.
-The Northeast saw the least amount of progress with a 2.8 percentage-point decline from 252 schools in 2008 to 245 in 2009.
-Rural school districts significantly outpaced their city, suburban and town counterparts. They posted a 15.5 percentage-point decline, a drop of 54 in the number of schools from 349 in 2008 to 295 in 2009.
-Cities and suburbs continue to make progress with a decline of 3.4 and 4.7 percentage points, respectively, while towns saw more progress with a decline of 7.5 percentage points.

The following states saw the greatest change, decreasing the number of “dropout factory” schools by more than 10 between 2008 and 2009: California (-25); South Carolina (-25); Illinois (-20); North Carolina (-16); Connecticut (-13); and Tennessee (-10).

The number of schools increased in a few states between 2008 and 2009 including: Georgia (+10); New York (+10) and Ohio (+5)

Overall, the number of students attending dropout factories has declined from 2.6 million in 2002 to 2.1 million in 2009 – nearly a 20 percent improvement.

Researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data (CCD) at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). They used two indicators to determine students’ progress – the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR) and promoting power, both calculated from grade-level enrollment numbers and, in the case of AFGR, district-level data on the number of diplomas awarded.

The report update also includes four case studies highlighting success: Baltimore, MD; Canton, OH; Cincinnati, OH; and Hillsborough County, FL. These overviews provide a closer look into the work, programs and resources that these communities are deploying and the success they are seeing as a result. All communities share the themes of strong leadership with clear graduation rate goals and a commitment to raising standards. All have support and involvement from many sectors and rely heavily on data to inform decision-making.

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