LAUSD dropout rate lower after second look
Posted by administrator on 4th August and posted in Education
Redrawing the dire high school graduation picture painted just a few months ago, Los Angeles Unified officials announced this week that the district’s dropout rate fell sharply in 2007-08 to about 26 percent.
The new figures were a wide discrepancy from statistics released in May that showed the dropout rate at about 34 percent.
District officials attributed the change to a new system to track graduation, increased efforts to find and re-enroll students and a previous system that double-counted some dropouts.
LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines said the figures also prove that district reforms are working, but he stressed that the data also point to a need to maintain better records.
“I hope people realize that there is a lot of good going on in this district,” Cortines said.
“This also talks about the fact that we don’t do a very good job at the school or the district level of keeping data. … This isn’t satisfactory.”
Cortines said the May dropout figure was a “blow to the morale” of hard-working teachers, administrators, counselors and parents.
“We cannot afford to be sloppy,” Cortines added.
Read more: http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_12993399