Dropout Prevention

Dropout Prevention

• Support SB 19 (Simitian) to help implement an integrated, statewide education information system, in order to identify potential dropouts and programs effective at increasing graduation rates and improving student achievement.

• Support SB 651 (Romero & Steinberg) to require the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to submit an “Annual Report on Dropouts.”

California faces a dropout crisis that poses a significant threat to public safety. An estimated one in three California high school students does not graduate from high school on time, although California does not yet have a reliable data system to measure graduation rates.

High school dropouts are three and one-half times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested, and more than eight times as likely to be in jail or prison. Across the country, 68 percent of state prison inmates do not receive a high school diploma. According to researchers, a 10 percentage point increase in graduation rates reduces murder and assault rates by about 20 percent, which would prevent 500 murders and over 20,000 aggravated assaults in California each year. Keeping kids in school and on the path to graduation is one of the most effective crime-prevention tools around.

SB 19 (Simitian) would help implement an integrated, statewide education information system, in order to identify potential dropouts and programs effective at increasing graduation rates and improving student achievement. Building on SB 1298, enacted last year, this measure would support program evaluation, aid policymaking and improve instruction and learning. It also would provide connections between K-12 and other systems—such as preschool, higher education, workforce, juvenile justice, and foster care—to promote information sharing and evaluation as students move across systems.

This measure can be implemented with minimal or no cost to the state, thanks in part to $250 million in competitive federal funding set aside for educational data systems nationally through the recently-enacted recovery package. This measure will help enact statutory changes necessary to maximize the use of this federal stimulus funding.

Law enforcement leaders have long relied on data to identify crime “hot spots.” With this measure and available federal funding, California policymakers and educators also can utilize 21st Century technology to most effectively target their resources for the public good.

SB 651 (Romero & Steinberg) would require the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to submit an “Annual Report on Dropouts” that would contain information on dropout rates, graduation rates, pupil promotion rates, course enrollment patterns, and behavioral data. Such an annual report would: ensure an ongoing, stronger focus on the issue of dropout prevention; promote policies to improve graduation and dropout rates; identify early warning indicators of dropping out; and maximize the effective use of California’s educational data system as it continues to improve.

We encourage that SB 651 be amended to require reporting of attendance and truancy data in the report, because these data are likely to yield early warning signs of potential dropouts.