A third of Oakland students drop out, data shows

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jul 16, 2008 | by Katy Murphy

OAKLAND -- More than a third of public high school students in Oakland drop out, according to the most accurate analysis of dropout data ever, released Wednesday by the state Department of Education.

The data -- based for the first time on actual student tracking rather than on an estimated formula -- shows that an estimated 11 percent of Oakland high school students quit in the 2006-07 school year. The four-year average dropout rate for Oakland is 37 percent.

"That just makes my heart ache," said Brian McKibben, a former principal of East Oakland's Fremont High School, who now works on a Laney College initiative for high school dropouts called Gateway to College. "It means that a whole host of kids have just painfully limited futures."

At many Oakland schools, the number of students found to have quit in 2006-07 was two or three times as high as the figures reported in previous years. About 21 percent of East Oakland's Youth Empowerment School dropped out in 2006-07, according to preliminary data from the state education department. The previous year, the school had reported a dropout rate of 8.6 percent.

Paul Robeson, a small performing arts school on East Oakland's Fremont campus, lost 18.9 percent of its students in 2006-07, according to the state tracking data. The previous year, it was estimated that just 5.9 percent of its students quit.

Two years ago, California public schools assigned every student a unique state ID number in order to track their progress, regardless of where in the state they moved. If a student vanishes from Oakland High School, for example, and turns up in Los Angeles Unified a month later, that student will no longer be considered a dropout. The system does not track students who move out of the state or country.

Dozens of states already use the same method, which was encouraged in a graduation compact signed by all 50 governors in 2005. It is widely considered the only way to accurately gauge what happens to high school students, particularly in areas with high levels of mobility. The governors' compact followed a high-profile study by the Harvard Civil Rights Project that concluded that California was reporting an unrealistically high graduation rate.

Unlike previous reports, which account only for graduates and dropouts, the new system includes other categories: students who are still preparing for the high school exit exam, for example, or who are enrolled in an adult school.

Kevin Smith, who conducts data analysis for the Oakland school district, said earlier this week that he welcomed the influx of accurate information.

"It's always been very, very difficult to accurately gauge how many students dropped out," Smith said. "Especially in a district like Oakland, that has a high rate of mobility, students disappear on us."

The dropout statistics -- an estimated 24 percent four-year rate, statewide -- alarmed state education leaders, who said that something must be done to keep students engaged in learning.

"Twenty-four percent of students dropping out is not good news," state education chief Jack O'Connell said at a Wednesday news conference.

The four-year dropout average is higher than in Alameda County, where the dropout rate hovers at about 19 percent, but lower than Oakland's four-year average rate of 37 percent.

McKibben said he was saddened by the statistics, but not shocked. "That the numbers are even higher than we thought simply heightens my commitment to this work," he said.

McKibben said he hoped the bleakness of the data would illustrate the importance of expanding career technical education and other initiatives to brighten the outlook for Oakland students. "The work will continue, it must continue, but there's no way there can be a massive change with the same amount of resources that we have now," he said.

Reach Katy Murphy at 510-208-6424 or kmurphy@bayareanewsgroup.com. Read her Oakland schools blog and post comments at www.ibabuzz.com/education.DROPPING OUT

Below are the percentages of Oakland students who dropped out of high school during the 2006-07 school year, according to preliminary data from the state's new tracking system.

American Indian Public High School 0 percent

Castlemont Business and Technology 12.1 percent

BEST (McClymonds) 23.1 percent

College Prep & Architecture (Fremont) 10.7 percent

East Oakland Community (closed in 2007) 17.1 percent

East Oakland School of the Arts (Castlemont) 10.1 percent

EXCEL (McClymonds) 12.9 percent

Leadership Preparatory (Castlemont) 10.5 percent

LIFE Academy 5 percent

Lighthouse Community Charter High 3.1 percent

LPS College Park (charter) 3.6 percent

Mandela (Fremont) 6.1 percent

Media College Prep (Fremont) 14.3 percent

Merritt Middle College (closed 2007) 4.8 percent

MetWest 7.5 percent

Oakland Aviation (charter) 1.8 percent

Oakland High 3.9 percent

Oakland Military Institute (charter) 3.9 percent

Oakland School for the Arts (charter) 3.4 percent

Oakland Tech 12.4 percent

Oakland Unity High (charter) 3 percent

Paul Robeson School of Visual and Performing Arts (Fremont) 18.9 percent