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Check out your high school's dropout rate
Some of you believe that until a teen-ager is 18, the parent is in charge. Well you're wrong. Florida schools allow kids to make one of the most important decisions in life -- the decision to be a high school dropout -- at age 16.
And apparently Broward's dropout rate is not necessarily something to brag about when you're trying to sell your house to someone from outside the area. The rate of graduations is 69.7 percent, compared to the state's 75.4 percent.
Here's the latest dropout data, including school by school dropout rates. Download file
The school board did what school boards do when faced with something this terrible: They convened a task force. Someone from that task force spoke at last month's Broward County's High School Council. According to the draft minutes:
The risk factors or predictors of dropping out are well known and include being over-age, behavior problems, poor attendance, low performance on standardized tests and grade retention. Minority groups are overrepresented in the dropout statistics.
The Council is talking about dropouts again this month. Their meeting topic is "Entering High School & Exiting With a Diploma.'' That's depressing. I have much higher hopes for my own son, who enters high school this fall. Exiting with a diploma I assumed was a no-brainer. Guess I was wrong.
If your kid is in middle school, you're welcome to attend the Council's meeting. It's on Thursday, March 5, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Plantation High School, 6901 NE 16th St. (graduation rate 71.4 percent).
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work...
Joy Oglesby has an infant daughter and a sister 13 years her junior, whom she babies to the now-adult...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s...
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters...
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters...
Anne Vasquez is the Online Editor in charge of overseeing SunSentinel.com. She is the mother of a 5-year-old boy and a newborn daughter.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces...
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 13, and Lily, 6, and is married...
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator, and father of two boys and a girl all under the age of seven.
Comments
It doesn't come as a shock that South Florida would have higher dropout rates. The area has so many children enrolling in the schools born in other countries. I teach elementary children and when I get students who were born and educated in countries like Haiti they are often far below grade level and struggle a lot, and this is 4th grade. I can't imagine how far behind their older bother or sister in high school must be. So, can you picture entering high school in the USA but not being able to read or write anywhere close to grade level? They probably feel very frustrated. I believe there needs to be outside the box thinking to try and solve the problem. What kind of programs are in place for such students?
Posted by: difficult | March 3, 2009 9:59 PM
This problem is easily solved.Every one wants or has to drive to survive in this country!Just require that any one that wants to have a permanent drivers license provide a High school Diploma.Remember Driving is a privilege not a right.How many other social problems can we solve by doing this one simple thing? The schools are not the problem.The politicians that want a last class society are!
Posted by: blake | March 4, 2009 8:57 AM
Oh my goodness. Denying someone a driver's license because they don't have a high school diploma would only lead to more social problems, or at the very least, intensify current ones. There is a lot more behind drop out rates than laziness and lack of motivation. There is a famous quote by Edward R. Murrow, "Anyone who isn't confused, really doesn't understand the situation." People and social problems are way too complicated for there to be an "easy" solution.
Posted by: Nicole | March 11, 2009 2:54 PM
I have already dropped the school. And I do not regret. Lol.
http://www.alpha-school.com
Posted by: Diploma owner | May 18, 2009 12:06 PM