7 Nebraska high schools get 'dropout factory' tag
Posted: Tuesday, October 30, 2007
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The majority of high schools in the state's largest school district saw enough of a drop in enrollment over three years to be considered "dropout factories" in a national analysis.
Five of Omaha Public Schools' eight high schools had senior classes in 2006 that had lost at least 40 percent of the students who started there as freshmen, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins researchers for The Associated Press.
The only other schools in the state to make the list were Winnebago High School on the Winnebago Indian Reservation, and Kearney West High School -- the state Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center's school, where students' average stay is seven months.
In the Winnebago school, superintendent Fred Williams also took issue with the numbers, saying he had only one student out of 30 who dropped out last year.
"There is a high mobility rate on the reservations," Williams said. "There's quite a few of them that have gone to other schools, they've gone to Sioux City, or they've gone to boarding school. We know we don't have a 35 percent dropout rate."The data don't take into account some key factors, Omaha Public Schools assistant superintendent Dennis Pool said.
Among those factors are how the numbers are compiled. Pool said most districts would fare better if the data compared eighth-grade enrollment to 12th-grade numbers.
"The freshman numbers that they're using are inflated," he said.
That's because incoming eighth-graders are counted along with those who may not have earned enough credits to be considered sophomores, Pool said. Many of those who are retained make up lost credits and graduate on time, but that's not reflected in the freshmen enrollment numbers used.
Because it is a key transitional year, Pool said, the ninth-grade class tends to have more students retained than any other K-12 class.
That's not to suggest that the Omaha School District doesn't have problems with dropouts, Pool said, but "if you would factor out the retained freshman from that number, it would certainly increase that proportionality."
In the Winnebago school, superintendent Fred Williams also took issue with the numbers, saying he had only one student out of 30 who dropped out last year.
"There is a high mobility rate on the reservations," Williams said. "There's quite a few of them that have gone to other schools, they've gone to Sioux City, or they've gone to boarding school. We know we don't have a 35 percent dropout rate."
While some students within the national data may have transferred, researchers suggest most have dropped out. The data look at senior classes for three years in a row -- from 2004 through 2006 -- to avoid undue impact on the statistics from events such as plant closures.
The data make up what researchers call promotion rates, as opposed to graduation rates. The promotion rate shows the percentage of students who start as freshmen and make it to their senior year in the same school. It covers regular and vocational high schools with three years of valid data and 100 or more students.
Graduation rates, on the other hand, would factor in transfers or retained students.
The Omaha schools with 60 percent or lower student promoting power were Benson High School at 48 percent, Central High School at 60 percent, Omaha North High School at 49 percent, Omaha Northwest High School at 60 percent and Omaha South at 52 percent.
The Omaha district schools not on the list were Burke High School, Bryan High School and the district's Career Center.
Overall, the seven Nebraska high schools on the list represent just more than 3 percent of the state's 213 high schools.
On the Net:
Omaha Public Schools: http://www.ops.org/ops/
Winnebago High School: http://winnebago.esu1.org/
Kearney West High School: http://userweb.esu10.k12.ne.us/.875westkrny@esu10.org/wkhshome.htm
Five of Omaha Public Schools' eight high schools had senior classes in 2006 that had lost at least 40 percent of the students who started there as freshmen, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins researchers for The Associated Press.
The only other schools in the state to make the list were Winnebago High School on the Winnebago Indian Reservation, and Kearney West High School -- the state Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center's school, where students' average stay is seven months.
In the Winnebago school, superintendent Fred Williams also took issue with the numbers, saying he had only one student out of 30 who dropped out last year.
"There is a high mobility rate on the reservations," Williams said. "There's quite a few of them that have gone to other schools, they've gone to Sioux City, or they've gone to boarding school. We know we don't have a 35 percent dropout rate."The data don't take into account some key factors, Omaha Public Schools assistant superintendent Dennis Pool said.
Among those factors are how the numbers are compiled. Pool said most districts would fare better if the data compared eighth-grade enrollment to 12th-grade numbers.
"The freshman numbers that they're using are inflated," he said.
That's because incoming eighth-graders are counted along with those who may not have earned enough credits to be considered sophomores, Pool said. Many of those who are retained make up lost credits and graduate on time, but that's not reflected in the freshmen enrollment numbers used.
Because it is a key transitional year, Pool said, the ninth-grade class tends to have more students retained than any other K-12 class.
That's not to suggest that the Omaha School District doesn't have problems with dropouts, Pool said, but "if you would factor out the retained freshman from that number, it would certainly increase that proportionality."
In the Winnebago school, superintendent Fred Williams also took issue with the numbers, saying he had only one student out of 30 who dropped out last year.
"There is a high mobility rate on the reservations," Williams said. "There's quite a few of them that have gone to other schools, they've gone to Sioux City, or they've gone to boarding school. We know we don't have a 35 percent dropout rate."
While some students within the national data may have transferred, researchers suggest most have dropped out. The data look at senior classes for three years in a row -- from 2004 through 2006 -- to avoid undue impact on the statistics from events such as plant closures.
The data make up what researchers call promotion rates, as opposed to graduation rates. The promotion rate shows the percentage of students who start as freshmen and make it to their senior year in the same school. It covers regular and vocational high schools with three years of valid data and 100 or more students.
Graduation rates, on the other hand, would factor in transfers or retained students.
The Omaha schools with 60 percent or lower student promoting power were Benson High School at 48 percent, Central High School at 60 percent, Omaha North High School at 49 percent, Omaha Northwest High School at 60 percent and Omaha South at 52 percent.
The Omaha district schools not on the list were Burke High School, Bryan High School and the district's Career Center.
Overall, the seven Nebraska high schools on the list represent just more than 3 percent of the state's 213 high schools.
On the Net:
Omaha Public Schools: http://www.ops.org/ops/
Winnebago High School: http://winnebago.esu1.org/
Kearney West High School: http://userweb.esu10.k12.ne.us/.875westkrny@esu10.org/wkhshome.htm
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Northwest2010 wrote on Nov 6, 2007 4:47 PM:
Bago School wrote on Nov 1, 2007 9:42 AM:
omaha guy wrote on Oct 30, 2007 2:40 PM:
James wrote on Oct 30, 2007 7:30 AM: