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June 20, 2005

So what IS the Dropout Rate in Washington, D.C.?

The story is about discovering that flexibility can help some students finish high school (big duh!), but the hidden nugget of Educational Administration Truth is here:

School officials also acknowledge that their graduation, dropout and attendance statistics are unreliable and that they need to generate more accurate numbers so they can estimate how many youths would benefit from a five-year program.

One D.C. school system report showed that though 4,207 students enrolled as ninth-graders in 2000, only 2,740 graduated four years later. But the study did not account for students transferring into or out of the D.C. system.

The school system's official dropout rate is 6.9 percent. But that is based on the number of students in grades seven through 12 who dropped out during a school year. Most experts said they believe it is far better to calculate the dropout rate by following a ninth-grade class for four years and determining how many from that group quit school.

All that money and so little accountability with the numbers used to beg for more.

Posted by CrankyProfessor at June 20, 2005 6:28 AM