Estimated High-School Dropout Rate Rises

Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) - The estimated four-year dropout rate for Los Angeles Unified School District high school students rose by more than 3 percent for the 2007-08 academic year, according to figures released today by the California Department of Education.

According to the CDE, the estimated rate of ninth- through 12th-grade LAUSD students dropping out over a four-year period was 34.9 percent for the 2007-08 school year, compared to 31.7 percent the previous year.

Among black students, the estimated four-year dropout rate rose from 37.4 percent in 2006-07 to 43.5 percent the following year. The percentage for Hispanic/Latino students rose from 33.4 percent to 36.1 percent over the same period.

The four-year dropout rate statewide was 20.1 percent during the 2007-08 academic year, down from 21.1 percent the previous year.

"I am heartened that the graduation rate is up slightly, but California's dropout rate is still unacceptably high," said California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

"If we look deeper into the data, we see alarmingly high dropout rates among African-American and Hispanic students," he said. "There are long-term economic repercussions from not graduating for the student, for their communities and for our statewide economy. These data provide even more evidence of the challenge and the moral imperative of closing the achievement gap as well as increasing graduation rates among all students."

This is the second year the CDE calculated student graduation and dropout rates by collecting student-level enrollment and exit data.

When two more years of student exit data are collected, the CDE said it will have the four years of data necessary to produce more accurate student graduation and dropout rates.