Video: High School Dropouts, plus Obama Speaks on Issue

Year Round Schooling, Good or Bad?

According to the National Association for Year-Round Education, more than 2.3 million U.S. public school students attended year-round schools in the 2002-03 school year. NAYRE also reports that 3,181 public schools now function year round, compared with 408 schools in 1986-87.

The following charts compare the distribution of days in school and days on break on the nine-month traditional calendar vs. the distribution of school days on a balanced or modified calendar. Weekends are excluded form the charts, with both models detailing a typical year of 258 work days (Monday through Friday). Both charts represent a standard school year of 180 days. Graphs found at NAYRE.org

The balanced calendar reduces the long summer break and simply apportions those days throughout the school year, producing more frequent breaks and thus limiting long periods of in-session days, as well as longer vacations

Pros and Cons of Year Round schooling:

Con: Local businesses may suffer to a longer school year because students will be unable to work a long at summer job

Pro: In this system, students and teachers are divided into groups, or tracks, of about the same size. Each track follows its own schedule, so that one track is on vacation while others are in school. According to NAYRE, implementing a four-track system increases the capacity of a school by 33%.

Con: Parents with two children, one following the traditional school year system and the other studying according to the year-round education system will find it difficult to coordinate vacations.

Pro: Research shows that multi-track year-round schooling can significantly save money if it is used in place of building costly new school facilities

Reasons Leading to High Drop Out Rates

In the recent search for reasons of why drop out rates are extremely high, Gov. Rick Perry had a few words.

Falkenberg: Whopper is too big to let pass

By LISA FALKENBERG

The governor, meanwhile, seemed to blame at least part of Texas’ embarrassing dropout statistics on untimely student deaths: “If a child dies, they count that as a dropout. I think that’s a little harsh,” Perry said.

Officials sometimes claim, for instance, that students are transferring to other states, but the fact is that Texas takes in many more students from other states than it loses.

Research done by Achieve, Inc indicated several reasons for students leaving school without having gotten their diplomas. (Reasons not limited to the state of Texas)

• Students who are poor, who are members of minority groups, who are male, who transferred among multiple elementary and middle schools, and who are overage for their grade are more likely to drop out of high school.
• Students who come from single parent families, have a mother who dropped out of high school, have parents who provide low support for learning, or have parents who do not know their friends’ parents well also are placed at greater risk.
• Studies have suggested that teenagers who take on adult responsibilities — becoming a parent, getting married, and holding down a job — are also more likely to leave school without a diploma.
• Students who struggle in the classroom and fall behind academically are more likely to drop out.

• Students who become disengaged from school and develop disciplinary problems are more likely to drop out. High rates of absenteeism or truancy, poor classroom behavior, less participation in extracurricular activities, and bad relationships with teachers and peers all have been linked to lower chances for graduation.
• Early dropouts started out with much lower grades in elementary school.

By far, obvious reasons remain for why students fail to achieve the status of a high school graduate. The next step is finding out what the community can do to help the situation.

Addressing the Drop Out Crisis in Texas

In January of 2007 Dr. Albert Cortez of the Intercultural Development Research Association researched the numbers, causes and solutions about Texas’ drop crisis.

A student is defined to be a school dropout if he/she is enrolled in a Texas public school at age 15 and by age 20 he/she has not yet graduated nor is enrolled in school.

Statistics show in 1986 minorities had the highest drop out rates, Hispanics at the top of the list. Hispanics accounted for 47% of drop outs in Texas. Blacks followed right behind with a drop out rate of 36% and whites at 28%.

In year 2006 percentages changed for only blacks and whites. Blacks increased to a rate of 40%, and whites decreased to 21%. Hispanics remained the same.

The cumulative students lost from 1986-2006 was a little over 2.3 million.

Dr. Angela Valenzuela, University of Texas, Texas Center for Educational Policy, Dr. Robert Sanborn, CHILDREN AT RISK, and Dr. Albert Cortez, Intercultural Development Research Association have nine principles to address the drop out crisis.

Principle 1: All students enrolled in Texas secondary schools should be expected, and must be supported, to graduate from high school with a regular high school diploma.

Principle 2: The state must restore the credibility of official dropout counts by accurately accounting for the educational status of every pupil that entered the 9th grade in any Texas secondary school.

Principle 3: Using Texas’ excellent student-level longitudinal data, the state should implement a transparent and simple methodology to count and report on dropouts. Reporting should be readily available and easily accessible to the public. Reporting must directly inform communities and parents about the status of the issue and progress being made to address it.

Principle 4: State efforts to decrease the dropout rate should recognize and address systemic issues that affect student graduation, documented by research (including teaching quality, curriculum quality and access, student engagement, etc.) and incorporate both dropout prevention and dropout recovery.

Principle 5: Ongoing evaluation must be an integral part of any effort at the state and local level to address the dropout problem.

Principle 6: In ensuring that all students graduate, schools should incorporate pedagogical changes that allow them to better adapt to the needs and strengths of their students.

Principle 7: No single criterion (e.g. high stakes testing) should be used to make high school graduation decisions for any individual student.

Principle 8: The state must acknowledge shared accountability for the dropout issue at state, district and local levels by investing the personnel and fiscal resources needed to help schools meet state-established graduation targets. Adequate, equitable funding must be allocated to address this crisis.

Principle 9: Any response to the dropout issue must be based on valuing Texas families, educators, communities, and students; no response should promote a “deficit model” or blame.

Below is a table of drop of rates according to independent school districts in Texas compiled by Dr. Eileen Coppola of Rice University Center for Education.

District	Annual Grade 7-12 Dropout Rate	Longitudinal Grade 9 Cohort Class of 2005 Graduation Rate	Longitudinal Grade 9 Cohort Class of 2005 Dropout Rate
Houston ISD	2.4%	73.8%	12.5%
Dallas ISD	1.5%	77.8%	7.9%
Austin ISD	1.1%	80.7%	5.6%
El Paso ISD	1.2%	76.1%	5.6%
San Antonio ISD	1.7%	76.0%	8.0%

Research Plan…Moving Foward

Education is my topic and I will be trying to dig deeper on the causes of high drop out rates for Texas students. I have come up with some questions to help me further in getting to the core and root of the education problems for Texas students.

Main theme statement: What is the problem of high drop out rates in Texas, who is addressing this issue, and what can we do to fix it permanently?

Questions to ask:

1. Who’s addressing the issue of high drop out rates for Texas students?
2. Is year round schooling for students better than having a break between grade levels?
3. Which schools in Houston are doing a better job helping their student stay in school?
4. Who is likely to be hurt if this trend continues?
5. How long has this been a problem and how has it changed, gradually or not?
6. Are their cultural issues surrounding the epidemic of Texas drop outs?

Obama Speaks on the No Child Left Behind program

Listen to what President Obama has to say about the program No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

Weekly Address: Education for a More Competitive America & Better Future

The President discusses his blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act to overhaul No Child Left Behind, the latest step from his Administration to encourage change and success in America’s schools at the local level.

Click here to listen to President Obama’s address

Teen Moms

The newest hit TV shows to air on MTV, 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom have made quite an impact on young teens everywhere.

Each episode of 16 and Pregnant follows one teen girl’s experience throughout her pregnancy  until she gives birth. You see the hardships, struggles and misconceptions that they have throughout their pregnancy. Whether it be problems with the parent support, baby daddy drama, or trying to make it in school, these girls don’t know what’s coming until it hits them in the face.

On Teen Mom Maci faced a hard time when it came to completing her online college courses. She thought she would have it easy spending time with her son Bentley at home while having the luxury of taking her classes at the same time. Little did she know she got more than she bargained for.

It turned out to be harder to complete the online courses because she had to constantly attend to her son while trying to study at the same time. She gets credit for trying to do it on her own but fails because she didn’t to realize that she was going to need a babysitter or take her son to daycare to do the work right.

Since she was not able to devote her attention to school she ended up dropping all her courses and losing out on all that money.

Pregnancy is a huge factor that plays a part of whether or not you go to school. A lot of it has to do with your particular financial situation. When you don’t have enough to send your child to day care you can’t do other things you need to do.

Once you have a child they are your number one priority and their always come before your needs, or at least that’s the way it should be.

Watch episodes of Teen Mom at MTV.com

Significant Drop Out Rate at Madison High School

The enrollment rate at Madison High School varies significantly from Freshman to Seniors. Staring with Freshman and on the numbers are lower for each grade level.

There were 1013 students enrolled their Freshman year in 1998 with Seniors only counting in at 237.The number gap is high at 776.

This profile shows you more.

According to CityRating.com, a School Ranking  has been done for all schools in Houston, TX. Each school has its own profile which includes: addresses, phone numbers, and enrollment data.

When comparing the enrollment rate to Lamar high School located in a different zip code in the River Oaks area the number gap is smaller from Freshman enrollment to Senior enrollment. The difference was 389. There were 999 Freshman in 1998 and 610 Seniors.

There was no significance of crime being the cause of this difference in enrollment because the crime rate is about the same in both areas.

The question is what is the problem. Is it parenting? Most likely it is key influencers in these students lives that persuade them into thinking that school is not the best option to take.

Drop Out Rates

The National Center For Educational Statistics has done research on the drop out rates of different race/ethnicity.

Some Fast Facts:

The status dropout rate represents the percentage of 16- through 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and have not earned a high school credential (either a diploma or equivalency credential, such as a General Educational Development [GED] certificate).

The status dropout rate declined from 14 percent in 1980 to 9 percent in 2007. A decline was also seen between 2000 and 2007, the more recent years of this time span (from 11 percent to 9 percent).

Status dropout rates of 16- through 24-year-olds, by race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1980-2007
Year	Total1	Race/ethnicity2
		White	Black	Hispanic
1980	14.1	11.4	19.1	35.2
1985	12.6	10.4	15.2	27.6
1990	12.1	9.0	13.2	32.4
1995	12.0	8.6	12.1	30.0
2000	10.9	6.9	13.1	27.8
2001	10.7	7.3	10.9	27.0
2002	10.5	6.5	11.3	25.7
2003	9.9	6.3	10.9	23.5
2004	10.3	6.8	11.8	23.8
2005	9.4	6.0	10.4	22.4
2006	9.3	5.8	10.7	22.1
2007	8.7	5.3	8.4

***Additionally you can find more information about drop out rates at this website and once you click HERE, then download the PDF file.***

Here is another table I found on drop out rates. Click to enlarge.

Looking for a Private School Education?

For those interested in giving their children a private school education www.houstonprivateschools.org is a great place to start.

Once you narrow down which schools you are interested in, you can visit their websites and find out more information about that particular school.

Statistics from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that students who attend private schools do better academically in Reading and Math.

There are 68 private schools to choose from in the greater Houston area. Whether you are looking for all girls or all boys, a certain religion, or a certain area in Houston, this website gives all the information you need. These are some of the options you can choose from on the Houston Area Independent School website:

		Early Childhood
		Elementary Schools
		Middle Schools
		High Schools
		PreK-12 Grade Programs
		K-12 Grade Programs
		Boys Schools
		Girls Schools
		Schools with Religious Affiliations
		Schools with Special Programs