States, Schools Pressed On Dropout Rates

New Federal Rules Require Schools To Track And Lift Graduation Rates For All Students

(AP)  High schools are coming under pressure from the federal government to improve the nation's dismal dropout rate - one in four students.

Schools and states now must track and lift the graduation rates for all students, including minorities and students with disabilities, under rules issued Tuesday by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.

"In this country today, half of our minority students do not get out of high school on time. That's outrageous," Spellings said in Columbia, S.C.

A school might have a high graduation rate but still have a low rate for black or Hispanic students or for kids with disabilities. Making schools responsible for progress in every group of students puts pressure on schools to improve.

The new rules are an attempt to extend the No Child Left Behind education law to the high school grades, and they come in the waning days of the Bush administration, which made the law a signature domestic achievement.

"No Child Left Behind is largely about grades three through eight - there's not a lot of power in the law as it relates to high school," Spellings said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"We haven't really tackled high school accountability, and this is a giant step toward doing that," Spellings said.

She announced the rules Tuesday in South Carolina, where the graduation rate mirrors the national average of 73 percent. South Carolina has set a goal of 88 percent.

Under No Child Left Behind, schools have to meet annual targets for improving graduation rates.

But states are allowed to set their own targets for improvement. And more than half the states have targets that don't make schools get better, according to a study last week by The Education Trust, a children's advocacy group. In some states, all that's required is that schools don't do worse.

South Carolina, despite graduating more kids, only requires schools to do as well or better than they did the year before.

The federal government cannot force states to set more ambitious goals. But it can make states uncomfortable by holding schools accountable - publicly - for failing to graduate more students.

"The power of the spotlight is what's important about No Child Left Behind," Spelling said.

The new rules do two things to shine the spotlight on school dropouts:

States must track dropouts, along with graduates and transfers, using the same reporting system. They currently use a hodgepodge of methods that make it hard to compare states, and the National Governors Association has recommended a uniform tracking system.

Schools, starting with the 2012 school year, must meet those targets for minority groups and kids with disabilities, as well as for the overall student population, to satisfy the yearly progress requirements of No Child Left Behind. Schools that don't meet yearly goals for every group of students face consequences, such as having to pay for tutoring or replace principals.

Schools will be judged on whether children finish high school with a regular diploma in four years. The secretary of education will consider exceptions for kids who take five or six years to graduate, such as students who are learning English or those with disabilities.

But Spellings wants the pressure on schools to graduate students in four years.

Congress tried to address the dropout crisis as lawmakers prepared to rewrite the education law last year. But the rewrite stalled, and Spellings moved ahead with new rules.

Reaction to the new rules was a bit tentative on Capitol Hill, where No Child Left Behind has grown as unpopular as the lame-duck president who championed it.

Delaware Republican Rep. Mike Castle, a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, called the rules a "foundational first step."

He added, "The fact remains that No Child Left Behind as a whole is in need of reform, and I hope it is at the top of the agenda in 2009."

A warmer reception came from the lawmaker who helped Bush pass the law, Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. Kennedy spokeswoman Melissa Wagoner said the senator regards the rules as a "significant step forward."

The Education Trust, the group calling for more ambitious graduation goals, agreed the rules are a good foundation.

"But now we need to do the hard work," policy analyst Daria Hall said. "It's going to be up to the states to step up to the plate and set meaningful improvement targets and provide the support that students and schools need in order to meet those higher expectations."

Criticism has come from groups who say schools will be whipsawed between the outgoing Bush administration and a new White House, and new Congress, likely to create new graduation rules when they finally rewrite the education law.

"We don't think it makes sense for the secretary to be putting out regulations less than three months before the Bush administration is going out of office," said Joel Packer, lobbyist for the National Education Association. The teachers' union is a longtime critic of the education law.

"You're going to be getting huge levels of confusion and uncertainty, and at a time when there are significant budget cuts and pressures facing states and schools," Packer said.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the Bush administration should have tried to use the new rules to help schools succeed under No Child Left behind and instead created "more ways for schools to fail."

The country's governors, while they proposed a uniform tracking system like that in the new rules, raised concerns when Spellings first proposed the rules in April.

Governors didn't envision the tracking system being used by federal officials to hold schools accountable, the NGA said at the time. The group has not said how it views the new rules.

[edward1975-2009]

We''ve lowered the bar to the point that whether they stay in school or not, these kids are ill prepared for the real world. Most can''t make change from a dollar without a calculator. Maybe schools and teachers should have their pay and funding adjusted to how many graduate with a C or above average. Instead of pushing students out, that can''t fill out a job application, because they can''t spell or construct simple sentences.

[paris1969]

as long as the teacher''s union refuses to make teachers accountable the problems will continue ... which is why the teacher''s union is backing Obama because they hate accountability.

[dingle65]

In my opinion, most of the problem lays with the lack of parenting and broken homes. Parents need to be involved and active in their child''s life. They need to hold their kids accountable for the choices they make. Have meaningful conversations. So many parents are leaving it soley to their teachers to teach their children work ethics, morals and responsibility. It has to start at home and be reinforced at a young age. Parenting takes hard work, but it needs to a number one goal if we are to right education in America.

[mr_sisko]

WHITE PICKET FENCES: It%u2019s noted that Sen. Obama plans to utilize the 700 billion dollar bailout to convert suburban homes recently acquired by the government (due to failed mortgages) to Section 8 low-income houses for inner-city families. Despite stereotypical fears of crime, school deterioration, and plummeting property values, arguably a low-income relocation program to suburbia enhances social equity for poor inner-city families, integrates the suburbs, and affirmatively spreads the wealth.

[drivelphobe]

Who cares if one in four drop out. The hispanics won''t assimilate and learn English and many blacks come from a sub-culture that promotes black dialect and a resistance to be successful through education. Some kids are just plain worthless and shouldn''t even be in school regardless of ethnicity.

As far as I''m concerned, the ones who can make it deserve the fruits of their labor and the others can work as hourly grunts the rest of their lives or go to prison. We can''t expect the schools to babysit these punks and thugs.

[TrishG62]

This idea that if you lift entire areas up, there will be a miraculous change is ludicrous. Case in point. When Katrina flooded New Orleans, nearly 300,000 people came to Texas. Houston got apartment owners to accept entire families in mostly new complexes, with nice landscaping and roomy 2 and 3 bedroom apartments. They were given these apartments rent free, utilities free, money for clothing themselves and school age children, food stamps and free medical care. There were counselors to help them with job applications and offers of transportation to take them for interviews and people who would teach those without cars how to navigate with public transportation.

It is now 3 years later. There are approxiately 15,000 Katrina evacuees who are still living "free" in the now trashed apartments. The nice landscaping was long since destroyed and garbage thrown about to the point the apartment owners could no longer afford to have it cleaned. Apartments have been trashed. The evacuees maintain it is their right to stay and have refused to even pretend to look for a job. They don''t support their own children.
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This new beginning given to so many people who used being a minority as an excuse for their plight has turned out to be a joke. Truancy among their children is rampant and gang activity has had to be monitored by the FBI.
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So, when we hear that minorities suffer because they''re minorities, that certainly is far from the truth in a lot of instances.

[oneworldusa]

One problem could be that there is limited or no ''pay for performance'' incentives in school systems for teachers and administrators. Base pay rates/increases on quantitative performance factors.

[bbrundj]

If sensationalism and debauchery weren''t so popular in the entertainment world, getting a good education and being well-read would flourish (hopefully).

[slim1h2o]

Maybe if schools actually taught kids something, other than teaching kids "how" to take silly tests, that have come to be known as the "NCLB" tests.

Or at least teach them "how" to learn, as opposed to filling their little heads with useless facts and figures. That would be a good start.

[realistic5]

Maybe if public assistance was tied in to completing your education, we would have fewer on welfare and more able to find jobs.

[pirmin3]

Why does the government care? Dropouts are just the kind of losers they recruit for the military. Send ''em to Afghanistan. McDonald''s already has enough burger flippers.

[drivelphobe]

Irishwench..

Nice try, but a common educational base is good for everyone. It''s pretty arrogant to claim that some kid in his teens can determine that his high school education doesn''t suit his interests. You sound like a bitter parent who supports this kind of arrogance. Perhaps you were one who couldn''t learn and be capable of taking a test. If a kid can''t learn and take a test, how can they ever qualify for any kind of work? They grow up to be worthless, incapable of learning any profession or trade.

Regardless of the tiny minority of those who "leave early to go to college or get their GED", the vast majority (at least in the Los Angeles area) are hispanic and black. The hispanics, many illegal and born to illegals, refuse to learn English and assimilate. They know they can subsist on the entitlement system and crime. Many blacks are the same way. Nothing can be done for these losers.

There are plenty of terrific, dedicated and committed teachers. The one satisfaction they have in their careers is the success of the handfuls of students that seem to care about their education. I agree that they should much better compensated.

Sorry your experience in education was so poor.

[mollydtt]

Let''s face it---Our U S culture does not value education. Parents don''t value it, and their attitudes speak volumes to their children. You can''t force kids to go to school and you can''t hold the parents accountable. Just how in the heck is this "mandate" supposed to be enforced.

[msobamaishot]

The problem is our educational method, not the teachers or students. Learning is based on building blocks; so if a child doesn''t get one concept, then they''re not likely to get the next concept and will eventually become frustrated with education in general and drop out. Our educational method is really what leaves children behind. Teachers are forced to cover large amounts of material in a short timespan, making them move on to the next topic when there are students who didn''t even understand the last one. They should be able to learn at their own pace, whether it takes them 8yrs to graduate from high school or 4. The important thing is that we motivate them to learn. Students sit in class and listen to a teacher talk for about 7 hours a day. How can we expect students to go through 12 years of that? This method does little to adjust to the individual learning deficiencies of students and discourages slower students from asking for extra help for fear of being ridiculed and holding their classmates back. The only solution for students who fall behind is to come after school for extra help. The problem is, staying after school is seen as punishment for most students.

[msobamaishot]

If we use pre-school thru kindergarten to teach kids how to learn instead of teaching them what they need to learn we could create a learning atmosphere where students can learn on their own and have teachers there to guide their learning. Students would be able to work independently & at their own pace, by reading the text books on their own and doing problems based on the reading. Tests & exams would be used to confirm mastery instead of measuring it, which might curb some of the anxiety students feel about tests. This type of learning can prepare them for college where is much more independent. I think a method like this would help produce more college bound students and help increase students'' interest in education, which in turn should decrease our drop out rate. Our education system is now trailing behind certain developing nations. Drastic reform in our education system is needed to remain competitive in a global society.

[msobamaishot]

Shame on those of you who fall into the trap of making this a race issue and pollute the comments section with racist remarks. No child chooses to live in poor neighborhoods and be exposed to a culture that influences them to act certain ways. Its that type of attitude that makes them think its ok for them to give up on themselves and drop out, because no one else believes in them. They''re merely products of their environment and deserve the same chances as every other student. Because we''re all born innocent, it''s the world and its various influences that corrupt us. I believe education is the great equalizer in society and is the only way to bridge the gaps created through the practice of discrimination in the past, and erase the influence of negative behavior and ideas in poor communities.

[mmstar20]

"Students sit in class and listen to a teacher talk for about 7 hours a day. How can we expect students to go through 12 years of that?"
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But do you want to discount the other students in these classes that DO succeed with this method of teaching? The major factor I believe is the environment in which poor performing students live. Minimal or no parental involvement, no emotional support, living in a violent world of drugs, gangs and guns, using the TV as a babysitter. It all starts with a supportive and loving home environment.

[msobamaishot]

But do you want to discount the other students in these classes that DO succeed with this method of teaching? The major factor I believe is the environment in which poor performing students live. Minimal or no parental involvement, no emotional support, living in a violent world of drugs, gangs and guns, using the TV as a babysitter. It all starts with a supportive and loving home environment.

Posted by mmstar20 at 12:56 PM : Oct 29, 2008

I feel that students successful in the current method of education are successful because they''ve acquired the learning skills needed to work in this kind of environment. Unfortunately, not all children are born with this capacity and require it to be taught to them. I think that it is true that part of this has to be fostered by the parents, but unfortunately there is no instruction manual to parenting that tells them this and the majority of these students'' parents can''t teach them this because they''ve come from the same educational system that''s failed them. There are plenty of examples of people who were raised in the same environments you speak of, that were able to learn and make something of themselves (and they aren''t pro athletes or recording artists). If you read biographies of some of these people, you notice the one thing they all have in common is the fact they they took the initiative to learn on their own.

[slim1h2o]

What is it that the schools should do exactly. dumbing down is not the answer, it is not fair to the kids who excell, and it is not fair to those of us who had to go through 12 years and did it.

Posted by getoffmine

And that''s the problem with this school system in America. We should not feel that we must "go thru it" like it was some kind of meat grinder or something.

If all people think that it must feel that way, no wonder we have kids wanting to get out of it. I know when I went to school, it was aggravating, but not torture. But also, they could care less if I learned anything or not.

If kids were being taught how to learn, instead of having someone trying to shove information into their heads, just to regurgitate facts and figures, I think they might stay in school longer.

[slim1h2o]

Give them the opportunity to learn a trade, and basic reading, math and science skills, and they will stay in schools. Try it, it might just work!!

Posted by bob5ford at 02:31 PM : Oct 29, 2008

Agreed!

And also, they just might not like their vocation, and apply themselves at studying harder at math, or history, as well.

And inspire to something better, other than a welder or whatever. Or, go on to become a great welder or whatever. The way system works now, as you very well know, just spits kids out without a snowballs chance in hell to become anything.