Dropout rate down statewide, up in Boston

Brian Mickelson

While high school dropout rates declined slightly statewide during the last school year, Boston’s dropout rate was about three times the state average, the city’s highest in 15 years.

The alarming statistics were detailed in a state Department of Education report released last week that provides annual dropout data to education leaders for developing and strengthening dropout prevention programs in the state.

During the 2005-06 school year, 3.3 percent of Massachusetts students in grades nine through 12 dropped out of school. Boston’s rate, on the other hand, climbed two percentage points to 9.9 percent.

The overall decrease of half of a percentage point from 3.8 percent in the 2004-05 school year is offset by the absence of almost 3,000 return dropouts. Unlike prior annual dropout reports, the ’05-’06 state report removed “return dropouts,” or those students who dropped out but eventually passed the high school equivalency exam by the following October 1, from the overall dropout total.

Of the 9,910 total dropouts across the state, 50 percent were white, 28.1 percent were Hispanic, 18 percent were black and 2.9 percent were Asian.

The Boston Public Schools also recently released a dropout report for the same year, limited to the City of Boston but with strikingly similar results.

According to the BPS report, Boston’s dropout rate for the ’05-’06 year was 9.4 percent, slightly lower than the percentage given by the Department of Education report. The percentages for Hispanics and blacks were also comparable.

Boston public school officials were quick to offer explanations and solutions to a thorny problem that is sure to frustrate efforts by incoming school superintendent Carole R. Johnson. But solving the problem starts with information.

“We’ve been working a lot with the Boston Private Industry Council to make phone calls over the summertime to kids who dropped out the previous year, in order to get an idea of why they’re dropping out and if there’s anything we can do to convince them to come back and re-enroll in school,” said BPS spokesman Jonathan Palumbo. “The reasons for dropping out are wide-reaching, but generally have a lot to do with home life and needing to work and support their families.”

Several years ago, a number of large Boston high schools were broken down into smaller, more specialized schools, in order to encourage students to become involved in school through a more personalized program. So far, the participating schools have shown progress, both in the number of students who pass the MCAS and in the number of students who graduate on time.

“We think the ‘going small’ approach will allow the adults in the building, whether they’re teachers or administrators or guidance counselors, to be able to work with a class of 300 kids rather than a class of 1,200 kids,” Palumbo said. “It makes a big difference in terms of getting a better idea of the individual needs of each kid and how we can keep them coming back.

“And the other part about the small high schools is that a lot of them are organized around a specific theme, whether it’s health care or technology or public service, and it gives kids more of an opportunity to choose a school that will provide them with the type of education they’re seeking.”

Palumbo admits that it’s a slow, arduous process, but is confident that the Boston Public Schools are headed in the right direction.

Part of the problem, however, is that the dropout numbers from the ’05-’06 year are representative of students who had been adversely impacted by larger schools and class sizes, and therefore received much less individualized attention during their high school years.

When reports come out detailing last year’s dropout rates, Palumbo predicts they will paint a much more accurate picture of what effect the new schools are having on students.

“We think these small high schools, as students cycle through them and have their four-year career in the same school, will see an improvement in terms of reducing the dropout rate,” Palumbo said. “We are providing a more personalized, exciting experience for high school students so that it becomes something that they want to do instead of something that they have to do. The information we get from students is that smaller feels better. They feel like they know all of the teachers [and vice-versa]. They also report to some extent that they can’t get away with as much because they have a lot smaller group of students to hide among.”

And Palumbo knows that if the city’s dropout rate continues to climb, Boston school administrators won’t be able to hide, either.

“There’s no question that the dropout rate is too high,” Palumbo said. “There’s movement, and it’s slow and steady, but there definitely needs to be more change to get the improvement that we want to see.”