National study lists Dallas school district as 'dropout epicenter'
09:30 PM CDT on Thursday, June 10, 2010
Texas high school students are more likely to graduate than a decade ago, but more than a third of them still won't earn a diploma in four years, a new national study found.
Plus, the Dallas and Houston school districts are among the 25 "dropout epicenters" that produce one-fifth of all dropouts in the U.S.
"Diplomas Count," a study released Thursday by the Education Weeknewspaper, reported that 65 percent of Texas students in the Class of 2007 graduated on time, up from 59 percent in 1997. The national rate was 69 percent in 2007 compared with 66 percent in 1997.
Ways of calculating graduation rates vary widely. Education Weekused something called a "Cumulative Promotion Index," which measures how many students are promoted from ninth to 10th grade, then 10th to 11th grade, and so on.
Among the findings:
•In Texas and nationally, big gaps remain among demographic groups. Boys are less likely to graduate than girls, and blacks and Hispanics are less likely to graduate than whites and Asian-Americans.
•Just 43 percent of Dallas ISD students and 42 percent of Houston ISD