Dropout Rate Improves Its Grade : * State Program to Keep Kids in School Boasts Not-Too-Shabby Success

There’s a widely held notion that a person can become either a troublemaker or a model citizen depending simply on how well a society plans and provides opportunities. State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig offered evidence of the practical wisdom of that idea the other day. He reported on commendable results being achieved by California high schools that have organized, with the help of a 4-year-old state program, to combat their dropout problems.

In Los Angeles County, a number of districts cut their dropout rates considerably, with a not-too-shabby overall decrease from 31.8% in 1986 to 26.4% last year. El Monte High School, the place chosen by Honig to release the report, cut its rate by using state funds to hire a dropout-prevention counselor. But don’t cheer too loudly until districts like Lynwood Unified, where more than half the class of 1989 left early, improve.

In Orange County, the most dramatic improvement came in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, where the dropout rate fell from 19.1% in 1986 to 6.4% in 1989. The figure is no accident. The district has been busy identifying students at risk of dropping out, and it has worked closely with them. On the other end, Garden Grove Unified School District has not fared so well and needs to improve on its 16% increase in dropouts over the same period.

It is particularly noteworthy that the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Santa Ana Unified School District in Orange County, both of which have students from many cultures, also managed to make significant dents in their dropout rates by getting parents involved. Again, even in a rapidly changing society, the old wisdom is best: Education begins in the home.

These figures show steady progress, but also something more significant than a graph could show. Each decrease in the percentage of dropouts represents young lives turned at a crucial point.

What a positive difference it can make when society gets organized and provides ways to take advantage of a well thought-out plan.

Dropout Rate Two school districts that made significant reductions in their dropout rate from 1986-89.

Los Angeles Unified -18.3% Santa Ana Unified -45.5%

*State Department of Education