LA County Schools Have 20% Dropout Rate

Los Angeles - The class of 2010 at Los Angeles County high schools had a 20.3 percent dropout rate, above the statewide figure of 18.2 percent, according to figures released today by the state Department of Education.

The dropout figures are the first from a new system that tracked students beginning when they started ninth grade in the 2006-07 school year and following them as they left, transferred and sometimes returned.

The more transitory student population could not be accounted for with the old methodology, according to the Department of Education. Education officials stressed that because the methodology is different, the data cannot be compared to previous years' dropout numbers.

In Los Angeles County, 71.2 percent of the 133,824 ninth-graders in 2006-07 graduated, compared to 74.4 percent statewide. About 8 percent were still enrolled when the data was taken, while the remainder acquired a certificate of completion or finished in special education.

For ethnic sub-groups:

-- black students had a graduation rate of 57.6 percent and dropout rate of 31.3 percent;

-- Asians had a graduation rate of 92.5 percent and a dropout rate of 5.1 percent;

-- Hispanics had a graduation rate of 66.8 percent, while 23.1 percent dropped out; and

-- white students had a graduation rate of 82.6 percent, and a dropout rate of 12.2 percent.

In the Los Angeles Unified School District, 64.2 percent of the 43,605 ninth-graders in 2006-07 graduated, while 26.1 percent dropped out.

In Orange County, the graduation rate was 81.7 percent, with 14 percent of students dropping out.

Rates are generally better at traditional schools because students identified as at-risk for dropping out are often transferred to county-run recovery programs, according to the state Department of Education. If they drop out anyway, it is attributed to the program, not the original school.

More information:

Department of Education Stats:
dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest