Houston area schools labeled as dropout factories

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

(10/31/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- The numbers are disturbing. Forty-two schools in the Houston area are losing so many students, that a recent report has labeled them 'dropout factories,' but local school officials say the numbers don't tell the whole story.

The school district officials tell me that the numbers don't even tell part of the story. They admit they have work to do when it comes to fixing the dropout rate and at the same time the study was not fair and painted a picture that is worse than reality.

Keandra Kelly is back in school now but said dropping out of school was one of the biggest mistakes of her life.

"I found out I actually do need it," Kelly said.

Kelly is getting her life back together but researchers at Johns Hopkins University say in a new report that hundreds of students at 22 HISD schools are like Kelly and walk away from school.

"It is a serious problem, not only at HISD but across the nation," said Rebecca Suarez with HISD. "But we have been working very hard."

The district has several dropout programs to get students back in school.

"At Furr High School, we have the charter school where they work closely and specifically with drop out students," Suarez told us.

HISD officials are taking exception to how the study was conducted.

For instance, if a student starts out at Lamar High School and transfers to Furr High School, the study counts them as dropouts. HISD says that is unfair.

The district says that it is working to address the dropout rate, but it will take more than administrators to do so.

"We need parents, community leaders and representatives," Suarez told us. "We need to make sure students continue to graduate."

The researchers from the study tell us they only track students by the numbers. They say there was no method for tracking transfer students.

There are 900 to a thousand high schools in the country in which the graduation rate is nearly 50%.

In 2,000 high schools, a typical freshman class shrinks by 40% by their senior year. And nearly 80% of the nation's high schools that produce the highest number of dropouts can be found in just 15 states, including Texas.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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