According to recent studies kids today are more likely to drop out of high school than their parents. Approximately 1 in 4 kids has been dropping out of school for the last 5 years, and approximately 1 out of 3 minorities drops out of school. Researchers are not positive of the reason for the increased number of dropouts but some evidence points to the increase of disadvantaged children and the influence that family background has on children's shaping educational and adult outcomes. As discussed in my previous post, if the number of poor children continues to rise it will reduce productivity and increase inequality within America.
Many states are taking measures to boost high school graduation rates back up. New Jersey has developed a yearlong, multi-agency plan, called New Jersey High School Graduation Campaign, to boost the state’s graduation rates. It will be led not by the state’s Department of Education but by the state attorney general’s office, with funds from businesses like Verizon and Prudential, among others. New Jersey’s campaign is part of a national effort to reduce dropout rates by America’s Promise Alliance, a Washington-based children’s advocacy group founded by Colin Powell in 1997. Since April, the group has awarded grants of $25,000 to 14 states, including New Jersey and New York, to hold summits to develop communitywide plans for reducing dropout rates. According to spokeswoman Colleen Wilbur, dropouts are more than just a problem for schools, because those students are more likely to become a burden to society — ending up in jail, on welfare rolls or without any health insurance. Solving the dropout crisis will require not only the schools and parent's support, but the support of the entire community, including businesses and churches.
Hopefully if schools can increase their graduation rates and the government can support programs to decrease the number of disadvantaged children in America, more children will be able to attend college and therefore receive better jobs that will propel the out of their lower-class slump. Also if drop-out rates are decreased, welfare programs and the number of people in jail will decrease as well, which would help out the American economy. Another benefit of increased college graduates would be that the united states would be able to keep up with the high-tech competition from other countries and stay ahead in its modern inventions and technology.
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4 comments:
Caitlin,
These drop out statistics are quite depressing, but are kids in the United States dropping out of school more frequently than kids in foreign countries? Are these drop outs concentrated in a few schools, or spread relatively evenly? People want their children to be better off than they were as children, so does this statistic undermine that message? Finally, how can family background influence drop outs when parents were inclined to drop less frequently than their children, yet share the same family background?
Tommy
Interesting information, Caitlin. Some of the most interesting work on retention of disenfranchized kids is being done in charter schools, particularly (as far as I'm read) in programs like the KIPP schools. KIPP schools locate in minority and poor neighborhoods. They hire great teachers at competitive salaries. They have an extended school day and year in which to teach an intellectually challenging curriculum. They socialize kids to be disciplined and teach middle class mores as well as traditional curricula, so students know how to maximize their efforts in a traditional classroom and, in the longterm, as professionals. KIPP schools have a great success rate, both in terms of retention AND testing.
Caitlin,
Although these solutions to dramatically high drop-outs rate will help, how much do you think they will actually help? Because really, shouldn't the emphasis be placed on the parents of these dropouts or the neighborhoods in which they are raised? You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.
Thanks.
Emily
Dear Tommy, Emily, and Leslie,
I appreciate your comments. Tommy, while I am unsure of how the US compares to other countries in high school drop out rate, the rate seems to not be concentrated in certain schools, but it is higher among blacks and Hispanics than among whites, while Asians have one of the lowest drop out rates. One reason for the high Hispanic drop out rate has been due to an increase in immigration. This could also account for why the drop out rate is higher than in our parents generation since family background influences dropout rates. With more people coming into the US who are not accustomed to our culture, there could be a higher drop out rate overall. Leslie, thanks for the information on KIPP schools. They are definitely a good opportunity for under qualified students and for helping low-income students go on to do well in college and in the work world. After researching results on
http://www.kipp.org/01/whatisakippschool.cfm
I found out that according to results from 2007, after four years at KIPP, 100 percent of KIPP eighth grade classes outperformed their district averages in both mathematics and reading/English language arts, based on state tests, and many of these students who began in the fifth grade were at least one grade level—and in many cases two or more—behind their peers in reading and math. After four years at KIPP, 100 percent of KIPP eighth grade classes outperformed their district averages in both mathematics and reading/English language arts, based on state tests.
The average KIPP student who stays with KIPP for four years starts fifth grade at the 40th percentile in mathematics and the 32nd percentile in reading. After four years at KIPP, these same students are performing at the 82nd percentile in math and the 60th percentile in reading, based on national norm-referenced tests.
Less than 20 percent of low-income students go to college nationwide. Nationally, more than 80 percent of KIPP students from the original two KIPP Academies are matriculating to college. Emily, I do believe that parents should help but sometimes it is a lot easier to change the kids. Charter and KIPP schools enforce ideas that are taught to children in the middle class by their parents and this helps them thrive socially and academically. The results from the KIPP program lead me to believe that these programs are very effective in increasing low-income and minority students chances of attending college.
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