Dropout Rate Dips at San Diego County High Schools - Education: But the picture remains complex. State data only covers 10th through 12th grades. San Diego schools have found that many dropouts leave before 9th grade.

The number of high school students in San Diego County who dropped out before graduation decreased from 1988 to 1989, and the number remained below statewide averages, the California Department of Education reported Monday.

The three-year high school dropout rate for the period ending with the 1988-89 school year is 18.4% for San Diego County, contrasted with 20.1% in 1987-88. That means that, for every 100 students countywide entering the 10th grade, about 18 do not graduate three years later.

For the state, the latest three-year rate is 20.4%, down from 22.1% in 1987-88. However, one in five students from the class of 1989 failed to graduate, the report showed.

Administrators with the San Diego Unified School District--the nation’s eighth-largest--warned that the picture remains far more complex than state data indicates.

San Diego uses a four-year dropout rate, calculating the number of students who disappear between grades 9 and 12 because the district has found that a large number of dropouts leave in the ninth grade, or even earlier.

San Diego’s four-year rate of 26.9% for 1988-89 was reported late last month, a jump from 26.8% from the previous year. The state three-year rates for San Diego, however, show the district’s 1988-89 figures at 19.6%, a drop from 21.3% the previous year.

The state figures show a smaller part of the total picture and therefore might not indicate the problems educators face in trying to reduce the number of dropouts, Gary Knowles, a research specialist with San Diego city schools, said.

Although district officials reap no accolades for citing their own figures, which are higher than those of the state, they nevertheless believe that public concern should not diminish because of the latest reports.

City Schools Supt. Tom Payzant has called the dropout situation “a matter of continuing concern” and promises to make dropout prevention programs in the middle schools--grades six through eight--a top priority in next year’s budget, despite a dismal fiscal outlook. The district has all but abandoned its effort announced three years ago to reduce the number of its dropouts by 50% by next year.

Tom Boysen, superintendent of the San Diego County Office of Education, took comfort in the lower numbers reported Monday.

“The fact that the dropout rate is heading lower is important,” Boysen said, while agreeing that it remains much too high. “Fortunately, districts are confronting this problem head-on. San Diego County’s 43 school districts are all making dropout prevention a high priority.”

Similarly, state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said Monday that, although educators “still have a long way to go to reach our goal of a 10% dropout rate by the year 2000, this kind of progress is really encouraging. Teachers, parents, administrators and students are working hard and, for a change, deserve some well-earned credit.”

The state defines a dropout as any student enrolled in grades 10, 11 or 12 who has left school without graduating or passing a high-school graduation equivalency test and who does not request by the following October that a transcript be mailed to a new school, which would indicate that the student had enrolled elsewhere.

Among San Diego County high school districts, Carlsbad at 8.3%, Coronado at 9.6%, San Marcos at 11.2% and Grossmont at 11.7% showed the lowest dropout percentages. The Poway, Ramona, San Dieguito, Borrego Springs and Mountain Empire districts also came in under the county average.

Fallbrook, Escondido, San Diego Unified and Vista were under the state average. Only Julian and Oceanside registered three-year rates above the state average. The figure for Sweetwater in the South Bay, which has traditionally had the roughest time in lowering its rate, was not available Monday.

Boysen said the dropout problem remains most intractable in large urban districts such as Sweetwater, Oceanside and San Diego, where large numbers of students come from low-income families, where many are black and Latino, and where many move frequently, which can lead to poorer performance and a greater inclination to drop out.

“Students drop out for many reasons,” Boysen said. “Some are frustrated with low grades, some can’t adjust socially, others get pregnant, others want to get a job.” Although today’s dropout rates are not historically different from those 30 or 40 years ago, educators emphasize that the number of career jobs available to those with a high school education or less is far smaller than a generation ago.

A study by the American Society for Training and Development says that, by the year 2000, 65% of all jobs will require some education or training beyond high school, contrasted with 54% now.

As a result, Boysen stressed, dropout prevention and recovery requires a myriad of approaches, as seen in the many programs San Diego Unified has under way. Payzant has emphasized increasing prevention efforts beginning at elementary levels to impress upon children and parents the value of finishing school.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY SCHOOL 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 1986-87, the 11th grade in 1987-88 and the 12th grade in 1988-89, and then dividing that number by the total 10th-grade enrollment in 1986-87. Dropouts include students who left school after entering the 10th grade and did not receive a high school diploma or equivalent.

1988-89 1987-88 District Rate Rate State Average 20.4 22.1 San Diego County 18.4 20.1 Borrego Springs 17.2 19.0 Carlsbad 8.3 13.1 Coronado 9.6 7.1 Escondido High School 19.2 16.6 Fallbrook High School 18.5 15.9 Grossmont 11.7 17.8 Julian High School 23.2 8.9 Mountain Empire 18.3 12.6 Oceanside 24.3 20.9 Poway 12.2 15.7 Ramona 14.4 16.2 San Diego Unified 19.6 21.3 San Dieguito 16.2 13.1 San Marcos 11.2 11.2 Sweetwater NA NA Vista 19.7 19.4

NA--Not Available