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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > June > 18 > Entry
Editorial: Would be dropouts get the help they deserve
If you’re frustrated about school taxes, student test scores or school board politics, here’s a reason to cheer up: the state has seen a big jump in the percentage of kids who are graduating from high school.
Montgomery County, a national model for its dropout-prevention efforts, is helping to boost those numbers.
Ohio ranked 18th among the states with a 74.6 percent graduation rate in an annual report released last week by Education Week magazine’s research arm. (The data is from 2007, the most recent year for which the group had information.)
That’s a solid 5.8 percentage points above the national average and a respectable ranking. But it also leaves plenty of room to improve. (Graduation rates, for this study, were based on the percentage of students who began as ninth-graders, who returned each year and who, ultimately, received a diploma.)
During the past decade, Ohio had the ninth-biggest jump, a gain of 6.3 points over its 1997 graduation rate. Most of the improvement came in the first six years; the rate has actually slipped slightly from its 2003 high of 76.6 percent.
Locally, dropout prevention efforts have been spearheaded by a group of business, government and community leaders who formed the Out of School Youth Task Force in the 1990s.
Mike Carter, interim senior vice president at Sinclair Community College, who headed Montgomery County’s Fast Forward Center for dropouts beginning in 2001, said focus and energy were key to driving the county’s dropout rate down to 11.6 percent in 2007 from 25.6 percent in 2001.
“In 2001, all but two districts in the county had double-digit dropout rates,” he said. “And when we started, only two or three had some kind of dropout program. Now 11 of the 16 school districts have a program.”
Several factors converged to make the difference:
• The state report card. By setting a benchmark for graduation, Ohio forced districts to pay attention to kids who were quitting school. Consider Dayton Public Schools, which a decade ago had a graduation rate that hovered around 50 percent. In 2008, the most recent year available, that number was up to 83 percent. (The state standard requires 90 percent.)
• Better tracking of students. Historically, Dayton did a poor job keeping track of kids who did not show up. Were they dropouts or transfers? Often no one knew. Today’s data systems keep better tabs.
• Giving second chances. In 2005, Dayton schools launched a computer-based “credit recovery” program to help kids make up classes they had failed. With the help of a teacher, they work on computers, complete traditional assignments or both. Dayton has seen 2,000 course completions. Other districts also have credit recovery programs. These efforts keep struggling kids from giving up by letting them catch up quickly — if students are willing to put in extra work before or after school.
• More alternative school options. The explosion of specialty charter school has offered kids who don’t fit in at a traditional school more places to go.
A struggling student can, for instance, learn construction trades at the ISUS Trade and Tech Prep School, prepare for health care or information technology careers at Mound Street Academies or study entrepreneurship at the Dayton Technology Design High School.
Mr. Carter said the Fast Forward Center works to match dropouts with schools where they fit best.
There is still much to be done. The state has to keep pushing schools not just to keep kids on track, but also to make sure graduation doesn’t become easy because schools dumb down courses. Ohio can’t accept a quarter of its students dropping out, but it can’t cheapen its diplomas just so its graduation numbers stack up well.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: City of Dayton, Editorials, Education, Montgomery County, Scott Elliott, Suburban Communities
Comments
By Max
June 18, 2010 6:06 PM | Link to this
“Ohio can’t accept a quarter of its students dropping out, but it can’t cheapen its diplomas just so its graduation numbers stack up well.”——Well, isn’t that conundrum? Does Ohio education ‘policy’ expect or promise too much? A 90% graduation rate is certainly a honorable ideal. However, mandatory attendence in schools until a certain age does not require graduation. Taking an advocate position, why should schools be graded on this? I am somewhat suspicious of the 83% graduation rate of DPS. That seems an awfully high jump from previous years’ figures.
By Max
June 18, 2010 6:14 PM | Link to this
“By setting a benchmark for graduation, Ohio forced districts to pay attention to kids who were quitting school.” —— Here is where I start having problems with ODE and the State Board ‘forcing’ districts to intervene in a legal -albeit unwise-choice of students. That there are other options for drop-outs after they see the error of their ways is a good idea but not at local districts’ expense.
By Max
June 19, 2010 1:54 PM | Link to this
I checked some data and as I suspected DPS is claiming graduates which ‘eventually’ graduated from other programs. That 83% figure is misleading when placed in the PK-12 formula districts must work with.