San Diego County Is Below State Average in School Dropout Rate

A smaller percentage of San Diego County students drop out of high school before graduation than do students statewide, according to new figures released Monday by the state Department of Education.

The dropout rate for the three-year period ended in school year 1987-88 is 20.1% for the county, contrasted with 22.7% statewide. That means that for every 100 county students entering the 10th grade, about 20 do not graduate three years later.

The state defines a dropout as any student enrolled in grade 10, 11 or 12 who has left school for 45 consecutive days and has not requested a transcript to be mailed to a new school, which would indicate the student had enrolled elsewhere.

The new state data represents the first report for which three years of dropout statistics are available, based on actual attendance figures. Previous three-year rates were based on projections from only one or two years of data and are considered less reliable than those in the latest report, said Jack Tierney, the county education officer who handles statistics.

Among San Diego County high school districts, Coronado, at 7.1%, Julian, at 8.9%, and San Marcos, at 11.2%--all districts with a single high school--showed the lowest dropout percentages. Among larger, multi-school districts, Poway, at 15.9%, Escondido, at 16.6%, and Grossmont, at 17.8%, came in under the county average.

San Diego Unified, the nation’s eighth-largest school district, had a three-year rate of 21.3%, and Oceanside Unified was at 20.9%. Only Sweetwater in the South Bay, with a 28.3% dropout rate, was above the state average.

The latest rates show that the number of dropouts is leveling off, both in the county and statewide, county schools Supt. Tom Boysen said Monday. But while Tierney noted that today’s dropout rates are not historically different from those 30 or 40 years ago, Boysen emphasized that the number of career jobs available to those with a high school education or less is far smaller than a generation ago.

“By the year 2000, 65% of all jobs will require some training or education beyond high school, compared to 54% now,” Boysen said, citing a study by the American Society for Training and Development.

Boysen said the Oceanside, Sweetwater and San Diego Unified districts have the highest rates because they have large numbers of students from low-income families, as well as students who move frequently, which can lead to poorer performance and a greater inclination to drop out.

But he also praised the same districts for implementing a wide variety of programs to try to stem the dropout problem. San Diego spends $1.5 million a year in special funds to pay for experimental programs, and Oceanside and Sweetwater are beginning new projects next year with goals to lower dropout rates 10% a year over three years, Boysen said.

Nevertheless, San Diego city school trustees have remained highly dissatisfied with their district’s performance, in particular because the number of black and Latino dropouts has continued to climb.

Trustees have asked administrators to look more closely at improving teacher attitudes, reducing class size and increasing parent involvement as ways to cut dropout rates.

In addition, administrators themselves, led by city schools Supt. Tom Payzant, have emphasized improved preschool education, because hard data from the 2-decade-old Head Start program show that nurturing during a child’s first five years of life has a profound impact on educational success over the long run.

The district is also trying to increase individual attention for students at a pilot project at Wilson Middle School, as recommended in a national study on middle and junior high schools released earlier this month, because the trend toward dropping out begins to show most directly in the ninth grade, local statistics show.

SCHOOL DISTRICT DROPOUT RATES The state Department of Education released new figures on dropout rates in California school districts. The dropout rate is a percentage calculated by totaling the number of dropouts in the 10th grade in 1985-86, the 11th grade in 1986-87 and the 12th grade in 1987-88 and then dividing that number by the total 10th-grade enrollment in 1985-86. Dropouts include students who left school after entering the 10th grade and did not receive a high school diploma or equivalent.

District Rate State Average 22.7 San Diego County 20.1 Borrego Springs 19.0 Carlsbad 13.1 Coronado 7.1 Escondido High School 16.6 Fallbrook High School 15.9 Grossmont 17.8 Julian High School 8.9 Mountain Empire 12.6 Oceanside 20.9 Poway 15.7 Ramona 16.2 San Diego Unified 21.3 San Dieguito 13.1 San Marcos 11.2 Sweetwater 28.3 Vista 19.4 Los Angeles County 29.1 Orange County 18.0 San Bernardino County 28.1 Riverside County 23.7

Source: State Department of Education