About 1 in 3 San Diego High School Students Drop Out, District Finds

An estimated 36.7% of all high school students who enter the ninth grade in the San Diego Unified School District will drop out before graduation four years later, a new district report released on Tuesday says.

The actual percentage, figured from 1985-86 school year attendance data, may be on the high side because of a state Department of Education definition of a dropout that was used for the first time, school officials said in presenting the study to the Board of Education.

Even though the number is much higher than previously reported using different district definitions, officials said Tuesday that the dropout problem still appears intractable and demands greater attention.

“No matter whether it is 40% or 30% or 10%--no matter the measure--it is there,” said John Griffith, district director of research. “And the same patterns hold, no matter the percentages.” Those patterns show that blacks and Latinos drop out more than whites or Asians, he said.

‘Need to Do Something’

“Even though the specific figures could be different, we do know that we need to do something,” board member Dorothy Smith said.

Under the new state definition, a student is considered a dropout if he or she leaves school and does not ask for a transcript to be sent to another standard public or private school within 45 days. The state definition, now being used by all school districts in California, will provide a common base for districts to compare themselves to each other, and to measure their own yearly progress in stemming the dropout rate.

Using that definition, researchers found that last year, 10.4% of students in San Diego dropped out in grades 9 through 12. The researchers then extrapolated the rate over a four-year period and came up with 36.7%

The district had previously used its own definition of a dropout, which gave a student until October of the next school year to enroll again in the same or another standard school or to attend a technical or trade school. That definition had resulted in a one-year dropout rate for grades 9 through 12 of 4.5%, half the one-year rate of 10.4% released Tuesday.

Higher Numbers, Same Pattern

Using the state definition for ethnic groups, the four-year district dropout rate for Latinos is estimated at 47.2%; for blacks, 41.3%; for whites, 34.2%, for Asians, 29.6%; and for Filipinos, 27.8%. Though the numbers are higher, the pattern is the same as earlier found under the district definition.

The regular high schools with the highest dropout rates last year were Lincoln, San Diego, Hoover and Morse. La Jolla and Patrick Henry had the lowest rates. Special magnet-program schools--Gompers and O’Farrell--had almost no dropouts, prompting board members to ask Tuesday whether those schools are doing special counseling that keeps their rate at almost zero, or whether students in the magnets are simply motivated sufficiently by the special programs to remain in school.

The information will be used in planning the district’s new dropout prevention programs for next year.