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How Far Should We Go to Lower the High School Dropout Rate?
By JLP | August 21, 2008
There’s no question that dropping out of high school is almost always a bad decision with serious consequences. That said, what should school districts do to help kids stay in school? How far should they go?
I ask this because I read this ($) in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (emphasis mine):
DALLAS — As students prepare to return to school here Monday, teachers and parents criticized the relaxation of the district’s grading policies in a state that helped trigger national testing requirements.
The Dallas Independent School District’s new policies give students who do poorly more chances to improve their grades. Among the changes: High-school students who fail major tests can retake them within five school days, and only the higher scores count.
School officials say the changes are designed to reduce one of the highest dropout rates in the state. According to the Texas Education Agency, 25.8% of students in the Dallas district who enrolled as ninth-graders in 2003 dropped out before their class’s scheduled 2007 graduation.
I don’t think lowering the standard is the answer! Instead of lowering standards, shouldn’t we be working to stress the importance of education to kids and parents?
More from the article:
“Chief among the reasons children drop out of school is because they are failing their course work,” says Denise Collier, the Dallas district’s chief academic officer. “We don’t want to give them a pass, but at the same time we don’t want to pass them over.”
Like I said, kids need to understand that this isn’t playtime—it’s school time. Besides, how does this work in the real world? “Ah boss, I’m sorry I messed up that account. I’ll go ask them for a second chance. I’m sure they’ll understand.” Good luck with that one.
It’s really a shame that things have come to the point that school districts feel like they have to lower the standards in order for kids to “succeed.”
In case you’re interested, here’s some other related links to read:
Dallas ISD Defends Changes in Grading Policy
This pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter: Editorial: DISD Grading Policy Needs Improvement
What are your thoughts? How do we get kids (and parents) to take school seriously?
Topics: Miscellaneous |
August 21st, 2008 at 11:47 am
Being the husband of a teacher, I do not agree with this at all. I personally think that they should do away with the TAKS test also. Our kids would do much better if they were actually taught instead having a test drilled into them.
Both of my older children are in the GT program at school and excel, but the younger one of the two stresses about this test that if she doesn’t pass it she won’t move to the next grade. I think this is a lot of bull. If they would just allow the teachers to teach and have to baby sit these kids and hold their hands until they pass a test then it would all work out. Why should a kid not be allowed to have a zero recorded as a grade. If they didn’t do the work then they get what they get. The parents of these kids should be held responsible for their kids needing to treated like this. Adjusting the grading for “little Tommy”so that he passes his test or allowing him to retake it and the first one not counting against he makes no sense.
I personally dislike anything that takes the kids out of the equation. If they had been studying and not up all night playing video games or texting people on their phones they might have done better on the test. It is really amazing the number and level on concessions that are made for kids these days and we as parents and a society are the only ones that can be held responsible. If “little Tommy” messes up in school then it must be the teachers fault. If he didn’t get his work done it’s not his fault. If he beats someone up it’s not hos fault. Well then just who’s fault is it. The parents, the schools, societies?
I think that the entire system needs to over hauled and lets get back to teaching these kids that it is their responsibity to get their work done and that no one is going to clean up their messes after them.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:51 am
Judge Smails in Caddyshack said it best: “Well, the world needs ditch diggers too.”
August 21st, 2008 at 11:57 am
America: if you are lazy come here and get a free ride courtsey of the tax payers.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:59 am
I am a teacher (not in Dallas) and I was outraged by this decision as well. I have a post coming out on my blog about this later.
This has to be the most ridiculous decision I have ever seen and Dallas should know better after all the controversy they have been through.
The silliest part to me is where the teachers are not allowed to give a zero unless the TEACHER makes a significant effort to improve the grade. Wow, a student can not turn in assignments but yet MUST be awarded at least a 50 and it is the teacher’s responsibility to bring the 50 up.
What? Since when is it the teacher’s responsibility to get your grade up ESPECIALLY if you have not turned in your assignments?
Let’s see how well adjusted THOSE students will be.
August 21st, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I have to agree - do overs are not the answer! The message they are sending is all wrong.
August 21st, 2008 at 12:39 pm
What got me the most is not that kids can re-take tests - it’s that homework grades can only be recorded IF THEY BOOST THE CHILD’S AVERAGE, NOT IF THEY LOWER IT. Are you KIDDING me?? Plus teachers have to accept late assignments and aren’t allowed to give grades less than 50.
This is going to accomplish one thing: grade inflation. So they can pass the kids through all the grades whether or not the students even turn in their assignments or pass tests! Horrible.
August 21st, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Positive incentives will be the only way to motivate kids to work hard and value their education. Unfortunately, since we live in a welfare state, the positive incentive is working against this cause.
Why should I work hard in school so that I can live a middle class life when I can just drop out and live off of the tax-payers?
August 21st, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I think the best way to improve student scores is to force the teachers to take the tests on behalf of the students. Scores will improve and students will be happier. Just play Bobby McFerrin music in the class rooms all day long… Don’t worry be happy.
Unfortunately the quality of education is determined by funding and not by higher standards.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Maybe we should force all musicians and rap artists to only sing about the importance of education! We’ll fill the kids’ heads full of knowledge and important things instead of images of gangsters, drugs, and sex.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
JLP: Are musicians and rap artists the *only* ones who are responsible for the images of gangsters, drugs and sex?
Cleric
August 21st, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Cleric said:
“JLP: Are musicians and rap artists the *only* ones who are responsible for the images of gangsters, drugs and sex?”
I was hoping you could detect the silliness of my statement. I wasn’t being totally serious. Sure, it can’t help kids to fill their heads full of filth but the problem lies in parenting. Too many parents have taken a hands-off approach when it comes to raising their kids and they expect the schools to fill the void.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
We have always homeschooled our two kids. When our oldest applied to college for this fall, I was shocked to talk to the college president at the open house. We made our kids work hard academically. They did a lot of college prep work and even some college level classes during their high school years at home. My son had a cumulative GPA of 3.81. (I did not go easy on him because I was his teacher!–he worked hard and earned it)
We had been concerned that the colleges might not accept our homeschool transcripts or diploma. Turns out it didn’t matter The college president said that most high schools have lowered their academic standards so much since the “No Child Left Behind Act”, that virtually everyone gets a 4.0 and it means nothing anymore. They look at your ACT or SAT score only. He said even that may not be an accurate unbiased standard much longer as they have withstood extreme pressure the past few years to rewrite the tests to make them easier so more kids could do better and get into college.
We were fortunate that our son’s hard work paid off. He did get a 31 on his ACT and a full ride to the college he wanted to go to!
August 21st, 2008 at 5:39 pm
To take a page from the wise Jonathan Swift, I think there is a very easy solution that will solve both the high school dropout program. Set a certain date whereby a dropout is officially “dropped”… perhaps two weeks after the test result comes back as a failure, or two weeks after they have been absent for two consecutive weeks.
Before that date is reached, have someone from Blackwater (they are on government retainer, aren’t they?) simply eliminate the kid. That way, the school boards may have a higher death rate, but they will have a dropout rate nearing zero. (I’m not guaranteeing zero because sometimes the little buggers get quite good at hiding and it can take longer than that two week window to find them).
I mean, c’mon… is this any dumber than what Dallis is doing?
August 21st, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I don’t live in TX but I’d bet this has everything to do with No Child Left Behind. The schools need every child to pass these tests by 2014(I think)to keep their funding.
You can also be a hands-on parent & still have problems. My daughter is dyslexic and the school she was attending was clueless on how to help her. We are now homeschooling her. It would be interesting to know how many of these Dallas dropouts had learning disabilities & weren’t properly helped.
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
It’s pretty clear that one-size-fits-all education isn’t working for us. Maybe it’s time to try what’s worked in the past — tiers. Smart kids go on one tier, average kids on another, dumb kids on a third.
It’s important that kids can jump from one tier to another if they show promise. With that addition to the system, I really don’t see anything wrong with it.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Student 1 takes the test and gets a D.
Student 2 takes the test, gets an F, retakes it, and gets a C, which is the grade that is ultimately recorded.
Yep, that’s fair.
August 24th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Dallas ISD certainly has a dropout crisis! The Dallas ISD class of 2008 involved the handing out of diplomas to only 6,102 students who remained from a 9th grade class enrollment from 2004-2005 of 14,890 students. That means that 59% of their 9th grade classmates were missing at graduation. For the class of 2007 it was 59.5% of the 9th grade class who were missing.
In every sense of the term Dallas ISD is failing.
I’m now a Dallas ISD Computer Applications teacher working in the 4th year of a dropout prevention and student motivation project that costs only $2/student and has secured a 25% reduction in dropout rates for our 8th graders at Quintanilla Middle School.
It is a 10-year time-capsule and class reunion program that helps students focus onto their own futures. They write letters to themselves in the last weeks of 8th grade in Language Arts classes. They are sealed by the students into self-addressed envelopes which the students hold as they pose with their Language Arts class standing in front of the 350-pound vault bolted to the floor in our middle school lobby. After the photo they each place their letter onto the shelf for their class, one of 10 shelves inside the vault.
They know it will stay there until their 10-year class reunion when they return to celebrate and reclaim the letter. They know they will also be asked to speak with the then current 8th grade class about their recommendations for success. They are warned to prepare for questions such as ‘Would you do anything differently if you were 13 again?’
With such a focus on the future our students are staying in school in much greater numbers. They are motivated by their own personal goals, not by a project needing hundreds of thousands of tax dollars every year! This is real life!
We must no longer mis-lead ourselves as to the severity of the crisis our Dallas ISD students face. See http://www.studentmotivation.org for more details as to the School Archive Project as one solution. If donors can be located for the 350-pound vaults that are bolted to the floors in the school lobbys to function as the time-capsules, and for the $2/student expenses for running the project, it will help these School Archive Projects get started.
School Archive Projects are a low-budget solution to a monumental crisis Dallas ISD has been facing for years.
It is also a project that is very popular with students and their parents.