A Tale of Two Dropout Rates
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Posted: Thursday, August 11, 2011 3:46 pm | Updated: 4:57 pm, Thu Aug 11, 2011.
As California tries out a new, improved way of measuring the dropout rate, school districts are stuck juggling the old method and the new one in the quest to figure out the severity of the problem.
It sounds like a numbers issues, but it goes to the heart of a very human one: Are kids slipping away or not? And are schools getting better at tackling the problem?
California schools began reporting a different way of tracking dropouts that tracks what happened to the students who entered high school as freshmen four years ago. Schools used to track dropouts by gathering data about how many students disappeared one year at a time, then estimating a total rate.
The new method is being pushed by the Obama Administration, which wants states to
Want to learn more about earthquake safety in San Diego County schools?
Check out KPBS reporter Kyla Calvert talking about our project on the lack of inspection on schools flagged for possible seismic hazards. Calvert explains how schools were put on that state list, why school districts have not gotten them reviewed, and what parents can do to learn more:
There were three words that Kyla Calvert and I heard over and over as we asked school districts about the buildings flagged possible earthquake risks: The Field Act.
School district officials across San Diego County argued their buildings are safe because they're covered by the Field Act, a state law that sets ademanding level of oversight and inspection for California school buildings.
Under the 1933 law, schools must have a state inspector continuously watch their construction. One engineer compared it to making a soup with a professional chef watching over your shoulder, making sure each step is done correctly. It is widely seen as the gold standard of school construction nationwide.
Nearly a decade ago, state experts flagged thousands of school buildings that might be vulnerable in an earthquake. Engineers cautioned school districts that more inspections were needed to tell if the buildings were in trouble.
But here in San Diego County, many of those inspections never happened. Only about 100 of the 301 school buildings countywide that raised concerns have been reviewed, repaired or demolished.
That means that children go to school in about 200 buildings across the county where
