High school dropout rate climbs to 34.9%

Noteworthy news from today's Los Angeles Times (A6 California Briefings)

HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATE BLIMBS TO 34.9%

"The high school dropout rate improved slightly in California last year but rose in Los Angeles, where more than one third of students are officially classified as dropouts, state officials said Tuesday.


Statewide, 68.3% of students graduated and 20.1% dropped out, according to data released by the state Department of Education. For the Los Angeles Unified School District, the dropout rate wa 34.9%. Although the state dropout rate was down 1% point from the previous year, the Los Angeles Unified rate wa up by more than 3% percentage points......


Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'connell said that although he was encouraged by the slight progress statewide, teh dropout rate remained "unaccceptably high" and was "alarmingly high" among African American and Latino students".


The higher dropout rate in our schools will correspond to having fewer students going to college. Education is this nation's greatest economic stimulus and we must all work together to help educate our youth.