Hope Fades for Slashing S.D. Dropout Rate

A three-year goal of reducing the number of dropouts in San Diego City Schools by 50% before the start of the 1990-91 academic year has almost no chance of being realized, Board of Education members conceded at Tuesday’s meeting.

In fact, the overall percentage of students dropping out of grades nine through 12 has increased by 1.2% from the 1986-87 to the 1988-89 school years. The dropout rate in 1986-87 was 25.7%; in 1987-88 it was 26.8%, and in 1988-89, the rate was 26.9%.

The survey, commissioned by city schools Supt. Tom Payzant, shows that, for every 1,000 students who start ninth grade, about 270 will not finish high school. The report indicated that 4.2% of eighth-graders left school in 1988-89, a 28% increase over 1986-87.

Payzant said that, although the dropout rate seems to have stabilized, “We haven’t come anywhere close to reaching our goal to reducing that by half by 1991.”

The survey showed modest reductions in the number of Latino, Indochinese and Asian students who have dropped out between 1986-87 and last year. However, the largest one-year increase was among Asian students, with 14.3% dropping out in 1987-88 and 19.4% last year. The number of white and African-American students dropping out from 1986-87 to last year had increased, but only slightly.

“More than 42% of the youngsters throughout our district are described as low-income,” said Norma J. Trost, information officer for San Diego city schools. “Often, the status of being ‘low-income’ can equate to dropping out. Some drop out and enter the economic workplace because their parents’ financial condition demands it.

“Some parents value an education more than others, but almost all the studies show that there are few jobs available to youngsters who don’t graduate from high school.”