Staggering. What is your excuse Governor Perry???33% High School Dropout Rate

[Horse with no Name]

>>>snip
AUSTIN – One out of three Texas students don't graduate, and more students drop out than finish high school in the state's largest cities, according to education experts.

Statewide, more than 2.5 million students have dropped out of Texas high schools in the last 20 years, and each graduating class loses about 120,000 students from freshman year to senior year, according to the San Antonio-based Intercultural Development Research Association.

The research group says more than half of students in Texas' largest cities drop out. The dropout rate among blacks, Hispanics and low-income students is about 60 percent, according to the Center for Education at Rice University.

The statewide dropout rate is about 33 percent – or 20 points higher than what the Texas Education Agency reports.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/012907dntswdropouts.7650b4.html

[Downtown Hound]

1. Liberals!

The liberals that dominate Texas politics have ruined their education system...oh wait, never mind.

[izzie]

2. I always worried when Clinton and Bush got into this ed thing

Both of their states are just bad. How can they get the US up in education when they did so bad in their own states? We move more and more to wards a two class society like a third world country. My thoughts on it is that once you get a group of people running a govt. that thinks govt. is bad this is what happens. Govt. is a service to the people and once you for get that it will not work. Or it is how I feel about it.

[twiceshy]

28. Not a liberal or conservative issue.

Here in Springfield MA, less than 60% of the kids graduate HS. It's all about the demographics.

[Downtown Hound]

33. I know it's not

It's just that conservatives always like to blame our failed public schools on liberals, and my comment was basically making fun of that. The California education system sucks too, and our legislature is controlled by Dems.

[ieoeja]

39. Not for the whole district.

You must be talking about Springfield H.S. only. For that H.S. your 60% dropout rate is pretty close to the the latest figures I find. But for the entire Springfield, MA school district the latest rates I found were for 2003 when the 4 year drop out rate was just over 12%.

Source: http://www.doe.mass.edu/infoservices/reports/dropout/0203/dropouts.pdf (takes some math to figure)

[Hestia]

3. and yet the school taxes keep going up and up and up

they are higher than the county taxes.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

4. This seems part of the "Houston Miracle", the template for NCLB. Kids were

talked into dropping out of school in Houston which brought the scores up in the schools.

[salin]

5. or kept failing students to keep them in 9th grade

then suddenly skip them to 11th grade so they wouldn't take the 10th grade test which was used for rating schools.

Yes this is the state that brought the template for NCLB to schools across the country.

[ClintonTyree]

6. The Buh legacy....

it was Buh's educational reform plan that precipitated this mess. The Test. Buh made it mandatory that all children be able to pass The Test. Consequently, teachers began preparing students to do only one thing: pass The Test, which meant excluding many other school subjects not necessary to pass, The Test. Along with the other aspects of this atrocity already mentioned by the other posters Buh created an educational system so far out of whack that we are now witnessing the horrible results.

The people of Texas knew about this before the 2000 election but it was largely ignored, along with myriad other failures of George W. Buh. The guy could fuck up a one car funeral procession but the media allowed this cretin to become our 43rd President by not reporting his disastrous past. Thanks, librul media! :grr:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. And it was only after NCLB was passed did 60 Minutes do an expose on "The Miracle". An expose

that received no other MSM attention, allowed to fade away. It is a Catch 22 Bullshit program. Get the scores up to get Fed funding and yet you need the funding to get the scores up.

My younger son had the testing in our NY school and for weeks on end, he had classes on how to pass the test, not just one school period but two. I have spoken to teachers about this, and they hate it.

[theHandpuppet]

7. As a nation, how did we get to this sorry point?

Both of my parents grew up poor, yet they valued education and wanted all of their children to get the best possible start in life. We received books as presents, got personally escorted to the public library on a regular basis, had a father who -- even after grueling shifts at his blue collar job -- always had time to help us with homework. Any extra monies at all were spent on lessons in art, dance, music and languages, not trips to Disneyworld, tech toys or designer labels. If any of us had even entertained a thought of skipping school my parents would have set our collective butts on fire with a hickory switch, for they fully understood that sometimes kids really DON'T know what's best for them.

A 33% dropout rate doesn't happen simply because some GOP nincompoop gets elected as governor. It doesn't happen because tests are too hard or classes too overcrowded. That kind of failure rate points to parental apathy and a shift in this country's attitudes towards education. No amount of money will solve this sorry state of affairs until the root problems are solved AT HOME. Parents have to be held at least as accountable as teachers, school systems and politicans. Not a popular viewpoint, I'm sure, but there you have it.

[Bridget Burke]

9. How do we know that "no amount" of money will help?

When schools in Texas go begging. And so much energy goes toward teaching The Test.

The dropouts are not generally the kids with the latest tech toys, wearing designer labels. Gosh--what if the kid only has one parent at home--& that parent is too busy working to be at home very much? Just let them drop out because they don't fit your Norman Rockwell vision?

[seabeyond]

11. and whose choices created the one parent family too busy

to parent the child. and can we really expect the school to pick up the responsibility on this. they are trying. really really hard. but reality it cannot be done. maybe that one parent should have made better choices. or maybe it is the inevitablility of the environment created. but i knew a handful of one parent families exhausted, working their ass off and still connected enough with the child to be an effective parent

[Bridget Burke]

13. So the child should suffer because a parent didn't make the right "choice"?

Yes, the schools should not have to do so much. But are these kids to be discarded? Let them drop out & join the army, since their mothers obviously didn't exercise their "choice" to abort them.

[seabeyond]

15. let us at least put the ownership on the right person. both kids in texas

public schools. we have the highest rate of preg amongst our teen girls per population thru out the nation. the school and administration and teachers are trying to combat this in all areas. i know, i am watching. they have counselors, proper responsible choice seminars, parenting seminars, after school tutoring, free breakfast, free lunch and all kinds of other programs. all these programs are taking away the money from simple education to try and do something about a parent not parentng their children. but.... it is not the disconnected parent going to the parenting seminar, or taking advantages of the counseling and the tutoring.

at some point, the responsiblity has to be squarely placed where it belongs because no matter what we do it is just a small bandiad on a gushing wound.

[Bridget Burke]

17. So--the kids who don't have a daddy who works....

And a stay-at-home mommy--are useless.

[seabeyond]

19. or..... parents start parenting your child.

boy bridget, about as big a stretch as you can make it implying any of my posts is suggesting any child whatsoever is useless, dontcha think. now.... i am thinking some of these parents that are not taking care of their kids should get a little bit of lecturin going on seeing how when they had that child they made a choice to be responsible for the child.

my goal is to take care of any and all children. cant go in blind ignoring the problem and creating a new one to keep the blame off the real cause for a child being allowed to make the choices they are.

[blogslut]

21. Possibly

But surely one can't blame the sorry state of Texas public education soley on parents.

Our system is truly messed up and this NCLB business hasn't made it any better. In fact, it's made it worse.

[seabeyond]

23. i cannot truly see where hte education is lacking in this area. i keep hearing it

but i have kids in the system. i am seeing what they are learning, how they are being taught and what teachers, school administration and educational boards are saying. most all dont like the nclb but for reasons like.... too much pressure on children and lack of funding. i also think because of what it is doing to the poorer schools, but again, that is a lack of funding. but i am NOT seeing that it is messing with their education. i am seeing the opposite.

i went into the school system refusing the public schools for different reasons, mostly the bad rap that you just suggested and taks tests and put kids in 6 years of private. they have been out of private and are in their third year of public. many of the things i preceived about the public school system simply has not panned out from my experience. but....

i will tell you what i have observed. every one of my kids years stepping into a grade i have been there. communicated with the teacher. given email addresses. made it clear i am the parent, their job is teacher. that is hard for them because many parents have handed their role over to the teacher, and the teacher assumes it. i refuse it. they appreciate it. in sharing who my children are, their deficits, where they shine, and what we need to do to help them along, both kids, every year have had the teachers on their side

what i see, any parent that gets in there will get a better education for the child. a teacher that does not have the support of parent may try and try and try with the child, but the teachers know.... it just isnt going to work

i do not see that our education system academically lacks. i see the kids learning way more than i, at earlier years. i really do not see that it is the academics to be blamed. and i am really looking, because it is that important to me, for my kids

[blogslut]

25. Yes but

You live in a wealthy district.

[seabeyond]

26. no

i got my kids into that district. why? because it was important to me and i nagged and begged and busted my ass for two years persistantly working at getting my kids into that school district. and if need be, i was going to sell this house and legitmately move to that area, i take education that serious.

what i did get to experience that i value. my kids are in a very poor district with the majority of the students in exactly the situations this study is talking about. again... it was the first year of stepping out of private. my first year experience in public. i was so damn impressed. i was so thrilled with my choice to pull the boys out of private and get them into the public school for academic reasons. i still had kick ass teachers for the boys. i had an excellent principle that all year was in all kids lives, out there welcoming them every morning to school and interacting with parent as much as he could.

and this was a poor school

i have friends who are teachers that are teaching in the poor schools. this is the area i have been so interested in the last decade. i am looking at so many different areas, locally... to see what is happening.

[theHandpuppet]

27. Actually, the state's neglect contributes to a self-perpetuating cycle

The lack of investment in public education, inadequate to non-existent health care for poor citizens (including prenatal care), underfunded social network systems, et al... these are all contributing factors to the frightening dropout rate. Of course, when you look at the stats for states in which similar programs are underfunded, you also find high teen pregnancy rates, high dropout rates, "parent-children" with poor parenting and/or job skills, etc. All of these factors create a self-perpetuating cycle. You can't address just one contributing factor -- the public school system -- without addressing the others as well. Some of these other factors must find their way to the top of the priority list before a child even sets foot in a public school.

Nonetheless, we cannot ignore the part individual responsibility plays in fostering this crisis. Who elects the politicians who sit on our school boards, our legislatures and in the governor's house? We get what we vote for, so to speak. And poor/minority households have the lowest percentage of voters among all demographic groups.

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:zdmznNpLpEcJ:www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p20-556.pdf+percentage+of+citizens+voting+by+state&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=16&client=safari
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting/cps2004.html

This is how states such as Texas (but certainly not just Texas) end up with representatives for whom the plight of the poor or undereducated is of little concern. There are no consequences for such neglect, even among their own constituents.

There are no easy answers and addressing only one whipping boy (the schools usually being the most convenient) won't solve this tragedy. We now live in a society which holds anti-intellectualism as a virtue and a political system at the beck and call of monied interests. The fight for children MUST begin at home and by example. As Gandhi said, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

[theHandpuppet]

20. Schools alone cannot solve the kinds of problems you described

They can't parent for the kid whose biological parent is too busy to be at home very much, no matter what the legitimate reason for that absence might be. The school can't police a kid who's on the streets instead of in bed at 11 p.m. The governor can't help a kid with his homework, attend parent/teacher meetings, or take a kid to the library. No state agency, no matter how well funded, could be a fraction as influential on a child's attitude towards education as a parent.

No, throwing more money at the schools is not the cure-all for what ails the dropout generation. Fact is, teenage pregnancy rates are spiraling out of control (especially in Texas) and the majority of those living below the poverty line in this country are women and children. This is one underlying problem, that elephant in the living room, which needs to be addressed:

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/famplan/tpp.shtm
How Often Does a Teenager in Texas Get Pregnant?
Every 10 minutes, a teen in Texas gets pregnant.
Every 10 hours, a 14-year-old teen gets pregnant.
Every 3 hours, a 15-year-old teen gets pregnant.
Every 1.5 hours, a 16-year-old teen gets pregnant.
Every 52 minutes, a 17-year-old-teen gets pregnant.
Every 35 minutes, an 18-year-old teen gets pregnant.
Every 28 minutes, a 19-year-old teen gets pregnant.

There can also be serious consequences for the children of teen mothers. Research sponsored by the Robin Hood Foundation compared children whose mothers were 17 or younger with children whose mothers were 20-21 when they gave birth. The research indicates that children born to teen mothers tend to have:
lower cognitive test scores and more difficulty in school
poorer health yet receive less health care
less stimulating and supportive home environments
higher levels of incarceration
higher rates of adolescent childbearing themselves

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3998/is_200304/ai_n9188082
Teenage pregnancy rates vary from country to country, but the extent of the problem in the United States, and in Texas particularly, remains significant. The United States has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates among the industrialized nations (Darroch, Singh, and Frost, 2001; Singh and Darroch, 2000). Even though the United States has observed a drop in the rates of birth to teens of all ages and racial/ethnic groups since 1990 (Ventura, Curtis, and Matthews, 2000), 35 percent of U.S. teenage girls become pregnant at least once before they reach age 20, resulting in more than 850,000 teen pregnancies per year (Henshaw, 2003). In 1996 the rate of pregnancy in the U.S. for young women aged 15 to 19 years was 98.7 per 1,000 women of that age group (Ventura, Curtis, and Matthews, 2000). The Texas teenage pregnancy rate was 113 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 in 1996 and, today, Texas ranks 5th in the U.S. (Nevada has the highest rate) (The Allan Guttmacher Institute, 2003). Of the almost 80,000 teen pregnancies each year in Texas, 65 percent result in live births, 20 percent result in induced abortions, and 15 percent result in miscarriages (The Allan Guttmacher Institute, 2003).

The problem of teenagers giving birth has important socioeconomic consequences (Grogger and Bronars, 1993) and both policy makers and health care providers are greatly interested in determining the personal, social, and political costs (Huffman, Foster, and Furstenberg, 1993). Herein, we analyze the births to girls aged 15 to 19 in Texas during the years 1964-2000 and, in particular, the count of daily births to the three main racial/ethnic groups (White, Hispanic, and African American), as well as, to married and unmarried teens during the years 1994-2000. Finally, we analyze influences associated with social, cultural, educational, and familial processes (Brewster, 1994; Geronimus and Korenman, 1992; Geronimus, 1996; Rich and Kirn, 1999).

There are plenty of articles on this subject, but the bottom line is the underlying causes for poor school performance and dropout rates must be addressed before a child attends that very first day of school. Poverty, lack of family planning and education, lack of social safety nets for single mothers -- all of these are critical areas which must be addressed. Schools and teachers were never intended to be parent/family subtitutes.

You may insult me or my parents all you like. They certainly didn't grow up in a Norman Rockwell home and neither did I. But they did instill in me a lasting respect for education and for that I will forever be grateful.

[w8liftinglady]

24. Regardless of fault,if you want to stop the hemorrhage,there has to be intervention

True,a lot of this is lack of parental involvement,apathy,peer pressure-but I have to believe that with the proper intervention and mentoring programs,these kids might go in another direction.I have seen so many young people in my nursing career who really could have been something,if the right person had taken them by the hand and shown them some guidance.We have to decide what is the acceptable option-permit the dropout rate to escalate without intervention,or invest money in these mentoring programs that might benefit many(Instead of the multimillion dollar athletic complex)

[seabeyond]

10. we too were poor

as were most all of my friends. my parents were connected to us kids and they parented us. there was no question we were going to go thru all of school, same with my friends. the friends that did drop out were the kids who did not have the parents there pushing them and connected to them and a good family life.

[seabeyond]

8. my niece was one of those drop outs in the state of texas, had nothing to do with perry

or nclb or the school system.

it had everything to do with her family and the environment she was raised and all to do with her parents and what they taught her growing up and their effectiveness as parents.

[BlooInBloo]

14. Are they "encouraged" to quit, so that TX looks good on NCLB metrics?

[seabeyond]

16. from what i have seen they fight very hard to keep the kids in school

they have cutting class officers. an eye on the number of absences a studet has. they go out to homes, inform parents, even have laws on how many day allowed miss before penalties to parents. i am seeing no encouragement for children dropping out and a full effort to get children interested and to school

[BlooInBloo]

18. k - thanks!

[w8liftinglady]

22. Now,don't be so hard on Rick...we have great football stadiums!

Seriously,in the rural area I live in,there are NO programs for at risk teenagers in our public schools.

[Avalux]

29. We can thank George W. Bush for the state of public schools in Texas -

and for Perry and his Republican Congress perpetuating really bad policy instead of recognizing it and changing it. "No Child Left Behind" started here, and I can tell you from personal experience the guidelines public schools are forced to follow in order to receive funding hurt not only the students, but also drive good teachers out.

How is it possible that a student can get straight A's all year, but if she/he doesn't pass the TAKS at the end of the year, they aren't promoted? How is it that teachers are forced to teach that test, without being provided the proper teaching aids and without the proper training?

My 14 year old daughter is incredibly bright and an honor student, but when it comes to Math, she's been given a raw deal and is struggling. It's not her fault, but it affects her self-esteem and could potentially screw up her future if she doesn't "get it".

Those students who are really struggling don't have a chance. They drop out.

[Ishoutandscream2]

30. School counselor here in Texas

I deal with many of these issues. I'm also the testing coordinator for a ninth grade center.

We can't encourage students to drop out, because that affects our AEIS rating (Academic Excellence Indicator System). Schools have to have at least 94% attendance, and cannot have less than 1% dropout. These variables are built in along with the testing (and yes, we test a helluva a lot. We have another field test tomorrow on my campus as a matter of fact). There are four categories for campus and district ratings - Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable, and Unacceptable. Your district or campus drops categories depending on the attendance, dropout, and tests scores. You can also drop depending on your "sub-population groups" which include anything from at-risk, economically disadvantaged, and minority status.

Let me tell you - in years past, it was fairly easy to get around some of these things. But the state has stepped in and made accountability more, well, accountable. Flags go up if you have a large amount of absenses on a testing date, or a large number of "exempt" kids. Heck, they even have folks in Austin checking for too many erasures on tests. This testing is so intense, and the security issues are unreal. Jobs are on the line, and even jail time could occur if you knowlingly jeopardize the "integrity of the test." Everyone gets really nervous about this on campuses across the state. We sweat an awful lot for folks who don't make that much money.

[sakabatou]

31. Governor...

[SammyWinstonJack]

32. Hell, he is just following GW's lead, ya know the "education Gov." It wasn't any better under

george, although he claimed it was.

[mikeytherat]

34. Actually, "one out of three DOESN'T graduate,"

To which group might the article writer belong?

mikey_the_rat

(edited for poor word choice)

[Horse with no Name]

35. 1 out of 3 is 33%? Is it not?

And this "headline writer" has a college education.
Thanks for your concern.

[mikeytherat]

36. Sorry - not you, the ARTICLE writer (NOT your headline)

Headline was a poor choice - the first sentence of the article says, "one out of three DON'T graduate," instead of "doesn't" graduate.

miley_the_rat

[Horse with no Name]

37. I apologize

My level of snark has gone up considerably since John Edwards bought a big house.:evilgrin:

[mikeytherat]

38. It's cool - like I said, "headline" was a poor choice of words!

(just don't ask about the size of my house)...
;-)

mikey_the_rat

[judaspriestess]

40. count me as one of those TX stats

I dropped out of high school in San Antonio, it was many factors but I saw first hand why so many Hispancis in SA dropped out, alot of it had to do with financial status.

I did get my GED and continued on to college but many dropouts don't end up even getting a GED