County Dropout Rate Hits Record Low of 2.5%

Following a statewide trend, Ventura County dropout rates declined again last year to a record low, state and local education officials announced Thursday.

The county’s annual high school dropout rate for 1996-97 hit an all-time low of 2.5%--down from 2.9% the year before. The state average, which has declined every year since 1993, was 3.3%.

Other Southern California rates for the 1996-97 school year ranged from 4.6% in Los Angeles County to 2.9% in Santa Barbara County and 2.5% in Orange County.

Among larger districts in Ventura County, Conejo Valley Unified posted the lowest rate, 1.3%, with Simi Valley close behind at 1.5%. The neighboring Las Virgenes Unified district, in Los Angeles County, recorded a minuscule rate of 0.4%.

Despite the good news in the Ventura County figures, Ventura Unified’s dropout rate of 4.3% was cause for concern among local educators.

“I’m not very happy with the results,” said Ventura schools Supt. Joseph Spirito. “We did show a decrease, but we need to be decreasing faster and more.”

Ventura’s dropout rate fell slightly from 4.7% the year before, but remained well above both county and state rates--and higher than nearby Oxnard.

“It’s really baffling,” said Charles Weis, county superintendent of schools. “We encourage Ventura to contact successful districts and steal their ideas.”

Spirito said he plans to meet with educators in Oxnard, Moorpark and elsewhere to find out what more he can do.

Ventura schools have recently begun to add more alternative education programs and to hire clerks to track down wayward students.

“We’ve just started to be aggressive,” Spirito said. “We think what we have in place now will start to show up next year, when we’ll do a heck of a lot better in the report.”

Weis said Ventura is on the right track by trying what other successful districts have already been doing.

“Strong bilingual programs, offering lots of options for kids who don’t fit in--storefront [and] home schools--and making it personal by treating students like people, rather than numbers, this is what works,” Weis said.

Oxnard schools Supt. Bill Studt said he would be glad to meet with Ventura educators to share his formula that led to a dropout rate of 2.5% in a predominantly Latino school district. State averages show Latino students have among the highest dropout rates.

“One dropout is too many, but considering our demographics, we’re happy with 2.5%,” Studt said.

Alternative schooling programs, outreach and home visits are among the tools Studt said his district uses.

“It’s not rocket science,” Studt said. “When we identify kids headed in the wrong direction, we stick our people on them and offer [an] array of safety nets to catch those kids and keep them in school.”

At Royal High School in Simi Valley, Assistant Principal Lou Lichtl said a strong counseling program has contributed to a low dropout rate. Students map out four-year plans with counselors, who keep tabs on their progress.

“We do a good job of keeping track of students on their way to graduation,” Lichtl said. “Dropouts happen when kids slip through the cracks, and we do a lot by way of intervention.”

At 1.5%, the Simi Valley district dropout rate is a significant drop from what it was in 1993.

A statewide trend toward higher standards is another explanation for the lower dropout rates, said Department of Education spokesman Doug Stone. Half of the state’s school districts have increased their graduation requirements and learning standards in recent years, which has motivated students to excel, he said.

“The diploma means more when there is challenging and demanding work,” Stone said. “It sends the message that kids need to know something in order to graduate and be successful beyond high school.”

Weis said there is one downside to Thursday’s report: the 908 students across the county who did drop out of high school.

“They didn’t make it, and those are the ones we have to worry about,” he said. “Because we all know dropouts don’t have much of a chance.”

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Dropout Rates

Paralleling a state trend, annual dropout rates have declined to record lows in Ventura County.

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1992-93 93-94 94-95 95-96 96-97 Ventura County 3.7% 3.1% 3.5% 2.9% 2.5% California 5.0 4.9 4.4 3.9 3.3 Districts Conejo 1.5 1.4 1.8 1.4 1.3 Valley Unified Fillmore Unified 2.6 1.6 2.9 3.2 2.9 Moorpark Unified 2.0 2.5 1.9 1.4 1.2 Oak Park Unified 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.4 0.3 Ojai Unified 2.0 4.3 3.9 1.7 0.9 Oxnard 3.8 2.6 4.0 2.9 2.5 Union High Santa Paula 3.3 3.9 1.7 3.2 2.2 Union High Simi 3.5 2.6 1.8 2.1 1.5 Valley Unified Ventura Unified 4.3 3.6 5.0 4.7 4.3

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