District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Education

School Year 2006-2007 Dropout Report and Initiatives to Reduce the Dropout Rate

This week the Department will be releasing its annual report on high school dropouts for the most recent school year. A copy of the statewide summary is enclosed. This year's report shows that in 2006-2007, more than 11,000 students-3.8 percent of the students in grades 9 through 12-dropped out of school. At this month's meeting, we will inform the Board about the results of the 2006-2007 high school dropout report and engage in a discussion about how to address this critical issue at the state level. While we have made progress in many aspects of education reform, we are increasingly concerned about the consequences of the persistent dropout and graduation gap in the Commonwealth at a time when the socioeconomic consequences of dropping out have dramatically increased.

As part of this agenda item, Board member Harneen Chernow will lead a discussion with representatives from two urban communities about steps they have taken to reduce high school dropouts. Janet Powell, senior director of student support services in the Quincy Public Schools, will discuss three strategies employed by her district to work with high-risk, high-need students. Neil Sullivan and Emmanuel Allen, executive director and dropout recovery specialist, respectively, for the Boston Private Industry Council, will discuss their recent research and programs related to dropouts in the city of Boston. I will also outline a number of upcoming actions that the Department will undertake, both on our own and in collaboration with other state agencies and organizations, to more effectively address the Commonwealth's dropout crisis.

Massachusetts High School Dropouts, 2006-2007

This year's high school dropout report, covering the 2006-2007 school year, includes a number of important findings.

• In total, 11,436 students in grades 9 to 12-3.8 percent of total enrollment in those grades-dropped out of school during the 2006-2007 school year.
• This year's report showed an increase in the overall dropout rate, from 3.3 percent in 2005-2006 to 3.8 percent in 2006-2007. This increase is largely due to improvements in our data collection systems. (See below for further details.)
• Among dropouts, 2,781 (24 percent) were already in grade 12, and 1,988 of those grade 12 students (72 percent) had already earned the Competency Determination: that is, they had performed at the Needs Improvement or higher level on the grade 10 MCAS tests or retests in both English language arts and mathematics.
• Across racial and ethnic groups, the largest share of dropouts (51 percent) were white, but dropout rates were substantially higher for Hispanic and African-American students than for white and Asian students. The dropout rate for students enrolled in grades 9 to 12 in the 2006-2007 school year was 9.1 percent for Hispanic students, 6.4 percent for African-American students, 2.7 percent for white students, and 2.6 percent for Asian students.
• Nearly 40 percent of all dropouts were low-income students. Students with disabilities comprised 22 percent of dropouts; 10 percent were English language learners. The dropout rate for both low-income students and students with disabilities was 5.8 percent, whereas for English language learners it was 10.4 percent.

Two changes to our data collection policies have affected recent trends in the graduation rate. First, in the 2005-2006 school year, the Department improved its collection of information on students who dropped out of school but obtained a GED before the beginning of the next school year. Rather than solely relying on reports from districts on these students, we now cross-reference our student records with a database of GED earners. The 1,000-plus students who fall into this category each year are no longer counted as dropouts. This change is a primary reason why the dropout rate decreased between the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years.

In 2006-2007, the Department added further refinements to the dropout and transfer data collections in the Student Information Management System (SIMS). Rather than simply coding students as a dropout or a transfer, districts were asked to report where students were transferring (e.g., to an in-state public school or a private school) or why they were dropping out of school (e.g., to work or due to incarceration). Students who were coded as a transfer to an in-state public school but had no record of re-enrollment in another school district before October 1, 2007, are now counted as dropouts. This change has had a large effect on the annual reported dropout rate. The 0.5 percentage point increase in the dropout rate from last year can be attributed to our improved ability to distinguish between transfers and dropouts. Our analysis suggests that, had we not made these refinements, the dropout rate for 2006-2007 would have been lower than the prior year's 3.3 percent rate.

While the changes in our data collection systems make it difficult to compare the dropout rates across years, greater accuracy in our student enrollment data is critical to measuring our progress on reducing the dropout rate. We remain committed to collecting and reporting the most accurate data possible on student enrollment, transfers, and dropouts.

Department Initiatives to Reduce Dropouts

Even if the dropout rate had held steady or significantly declined, we would still be concerned about this issue. The implications of these data are clear: Too many students are dropping out of high school.

We cannot achieve our goal of college and career readiness for all students if over 11,000 of them each year leave school before graduating.

We view all of our policies and programs, from full-day kindergarten to academic support to school redesign to educational proficiency plans, as working together to help reduce the dropout rate. That being said, in the coming months, the Department will take a number of important steps aimed specifically at addressing the dropout crisis.

• Department workgroup. This spring, we will convene a Department workgroup to examine how our units can work together to improve our policies and practices and better allocate resources so that we can help to reduce the number of students dropping out of school. We will review current programs that address dropout prevention and look at ways to strengthen them. We will examine other forms of technical assistance and professional development that can be provided to assist local school staff to engage and retain students throughout their high school careers. This workgroup will report its recommendations to the Commissioner, with the expectation that the recommendations may inform the Board's fiscal year 2010 budget request.

• Pathways to Success by 21. An existing interagency committee, Pathways to Success by 21, focuses on a broad range of issues related to youth in the Commonwealth. The committee is co-chaired by the secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the secretary of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and the commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. We will work with this group to develop a framework for how state agencies can address the state's dropout rate.

• Identifying promising practices. We have already begun two related research projects to help inform our activities on improving the dropout rate. First, we are reviewing the actions of states with low dropout rates as a basis for possible recommendations for changes in Massachusetts laws, regulations, or state policies. Second, we are identifying districts in Massachusetts with relatively low dropout rates given the students they serve. We will work with these districts to understand what factors may have contributed to their success and determine which of their practices could be implemented on a broader scale.

• Public events. The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, Jobs for the Future, the Boston Private Industry Council, and the Department are partnering to offer several events for policymakers this spring focusing on dropout prevention. The first event, Signs that Matter: Using Early Indicators to Lower the Dropout Rate, is scheduled for April 2. Researchers will share data from large-scale dropout studies conducted in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. This will be followed by another conference later this spring: Cross-Sector Support for At-Risk Students. This second event will focus on developing a comprehensive, inter-governmental, child-focused approach to provide the social and emotional supports necessary to enable students to stay in school and strive for proficiency. In the fall, we will hold a "promising practices" conference on early interventions for at-risk students and programs that enable students to get back on track to high school graduation.

In addition, I am pleased to report that the America's Promise Alliance has committed to providing each state with a $25,000 convening grant to address the issue of dropouts. The America's Promise Alliance is the nation's largest multi-sector collaborative dedicated to the well-being of children and youth. We will provide the Board with more information on plans for these grant funds at an upcoming meeting.

We have challenging work ahead of us if we are to be successful in reducing the number of students who leave school before graduation. Achieving our education goals for all of the Commonwealth's students requires us to take swift action-to provide a meaningful and engaging educational experience and the support services students need in order to retain those most at risk of dropping out. I look forward to discussing this important issue with the Board.

Further information

Included are the 2006-2007 summary (High School Dropouts 2006-07   ) and three reports to help frame our discussion:

	Too Big to Be Seen: The Invisible Dropout Crisis in Boston and America, by the Boston Youth Transitions Task Force
	The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, by Civic Enterprises in association with Peter Hart Research
	Youth Voices - How High Schools Can Respond to the Needs of Students and Help Prevent Dropouts: Findings from Youth Focus Groups, by Department staff

Each report was based on a significant number student interviews and each contains recommendations from the students to improve outcomes for youth.