Every school year, there are always some students that just can’t seem to handle all the stress that comes along with high school. They just want to get out of school. Since the year 2000, the dropout rate has been declining. It went from 15 percent in 1972 to 9 percent in 2005. In some years the dropout rate does go up again, but it always seems to go back down the following year.
People always wonder why students are dropping out of high school. The reasons why students drop out vary from student to student, but there are some similar reasons why they leave school before graduation. A few of the reasons why students drop out are that they don’t like school in general or they were failing their classes. they also may drop out because they had to get a job to support their family or they couldn’t seem to balance school and work. Not all factors related to dropout reduction are school controllable, and solutions to the complex problem of dropouts cannot acheived by the schools alone, parents have to try and keep their kids in school. If parents did more to try and keep their kids in school, there might be fewer dropouts. A simple thing they could do is to pay attention to their kid’s lives. Then they could detect any warning signs.
Poor academic performance is the single strongest school-related predictor of dropping out. The most recent Department of Education annual dropout report relates that students who repeated one or more grades were twice as likely to drop out than those who had never been held back, and those who repeated more than one grade were four times as likely to leave school before completion. Student-related risk factors include personal problems independent of social/family background. Substance abuse, pregnancy and legal problems are frequently reported along with school-related problem behaviors such as truancy, absenteeism, tardiness, suspension, and other disciplinary infractions. -Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Different kinds of students are at risk for leaving school before graduation. Students are twice as likely to leave school in large cities than students in non-urban areas. About 20 percent of dropouts were held back a grade and almost half failed a course. Youth that spend time in a juvenile home or shelter make up 8 percent of the dropouts.
People wonder what kind of students are dropping out of high school. The ones are most at risk are the students who repeat one or more grades. The amount of dropouts also differ by ethnicity. In 2005, Whites made up 6 percent of the dropouts. Blacks made up 10.4 percent of the dropouts and Hispanics made up 22.4 percent of the dropouts. Those rates are slowly declining at different rates by race or ethnicity.
The status dropout rates for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics each generally declined between 1972 and 2005. However, for each year between 1972 and 2005, the status dropout rate was lowest for Whites and highest for Hispanics. Although the gaps between the rates of Blacks and Whites and Hispanics and Whites have decreased, the patterns have not been consistent. The Black-White gap narrowed during the 1980s, with no measurable change during the 1970s or between 1990 and 2005. In contrast, the Hispanic-White gap narrowed between 1990 and 2005, with no measurable change in the gap during the 1970s and 1980s. -National Center for Education Statistics
People wonder why so many youth are leaving school before graduation. It is all almost a formula for who is going to dropout. If you put together a non-white student with a troubled life and they live in a large city, you will get a student that is more likely to leave school before graduation than a white student with a normal life living in a suburb. Even if that white student has a troubled life and has spent time in a juvenile home, the non-white student with the troubled life is still more likely to leave school before graduation.
Here are the links to the websites for the information used: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16 http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/9/c017.html http://www.focusas.com/Dropouts.html
This all leads me to wonder if there’s a connection to funding inequality. For example, take our neighboring district, Forest Hills. This is a district with a predominantly white, wealthy population, and it receives significantly more money per student from the state than the mostly minority, lower-income Grand Rapids Public. Yet, our district is, according to this so-called formula, at a higher risk for dropouts than Forest Hills, and a situation where we cannot provide as many support services or opportunities to struggling students has just aggravated this rate, I would say.
Interesting points you make, though.
Wow i think that is a very interesting topic. i am really surprised at those stitistics they are all definately very new to me and a little shocking.I like how at the end you kind of put all the statistics together into one scenario.
I think that students should just not drop out specially before graduating. I think that when times are rough you shoudl just stick out and get through because graduating from high school will help you get a better job than if you were to just drop out. Students that show signs of wanting to drop out should be helped immeaditely. Doing this will encourage people to finish.
I agree that the dropout rate is decreasing and I think that the main reason for that is because there are more resources for teens to use. Whether it is tutoring resources or people available to talk to students, like social workers. There are more people that care for students now days. I think that the dropout rate will continue to fall if there are even more resources available and more positive role models. Even if schools started to have more specialized programs for certain students.