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For Immediate Release
Friday, March 22, 1996
Contact:Alan Safran

Statewide High School Student Dropout Rates Reported

Malden - Commissioner of Education Robert V. Antonucci today released the latest statewide high school student dropout figures which show a slight decline in the annual rate of student withdrawal from high school in the last school year. The dropout rate for the school year ending June 1995 was 3.6 percent, slightly down from 3.7 percent in 1994. It represents 8,396 youths who dropped out of high school in the 1994-95 school year and did not later return to school by October of 1995. This "adjusted" figure is the national measure to standardize comparisons of dropout rates among states. Last year's dropout rate varied widely throughout the Commonwealth, ranging from zero percent to 36.9 percent, and included 171 schools with dropout rates of 2.5 percent or less. At the high end, 14 schools had dropout rates exceeding 10 percent. Several schools with higher than average dropout rates in 1994 improved dramatically in 1995, with rates falling to the statewide average or below. These high schools are: Ayer Jr/Sr High School, Boston High School, Chicopee, Marlborough, Methuen, Northampton, Norton, Taconic High School in Pittsfield, Springfield Central High, Uxbridge, Weymouth High/Voc Tech, Worcester Voc High School, Pioneer Valley Regional, Tantasqua Regional Vocational, Cape Cod Regional Voc Tech, Franklin County Tech, North Shore Regional Voc, South Shore Voc Tech, and Bay Path Regional Voc Tech in South Worcester County. High schools that reported no dropouts in 1995 are: Ashland, Avon, Boston Latin, Hopkins Academy in Hadley, Bromfield in Harvard, Smith Academy in Hatfield, Hingham, Lenox Memorial High, Littleton, Longmeadow, Millis, Needham, Norwell, Peabody Alternative High, Worcester Vocational, Silver Lake Regional, Blue Hills Regional Voc, and Norfolk County Agricultural. Commissioner Antonucci commented on the latest dropout figures by stating that, "Students who stay in high school and receive their diplomas have greater educational and economic opportunity than those who quit school. The value of finishing high school is in knowledge gained, the prestige of holding a diploma, and - importantly - students who graduate and are heads of households make an average of 60 percent more income every year of their lives than those who don't." The 1995 Massachusetts Department of Education dropout report which includes the dropout rates by community can be viewed on the Internet. The address is http://www.doe.mass.edu/.



Last Updated: March 22, 1996



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