Dropout data released last week that for the first time used student tracking numbers points overwhelmingly to the need for the collection of accurate statewide student data, and to the need to adequately fund such a system.
“For too long, we had to rely on complicated formulas to make educated guesses about how many students were graduating and how many were leaving school without a diploma,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell. “Arguments over differing approaches to this calculation often resulted in confusing and distracting conversations. Now, using student-level data, we can improve the accuracy of our count of how many students drop out, increase accountability and focus on preventing dropouts.”
Senate Bill 1453, authored by former state Sen. Dede Alpert, was signed into law in September 2002 to require the assignment of Statewide Student Identifiers, or SSIDs. Local educational agencies have assigned all California K-12 public school students an SSID that is unique, but non-personally identifiable.
The dropout data for the 2006-07 school year was calculated by the California Department of Education’s Data Management Division using information generated by the SSIDs.
The four-year derived rates in 2006-07 revealed 67.6 percent of public school students in California graduated, 24.2 percent dropped out, and 8.2 percent completed or withdrew from school and are considered neither dropouts nor graduates, such as students who transferred to a private school, left the state, or earned a General Educational Development degree.
Because of the new identification numbers, it is impossible to compare this year’s dropout numbers to last year’s rate, which was 13 percent. Before SSIDs, dropout rates were derived using only aggregate data of enrollment and dropouts collected annually through the California Basic Educational Data System.
“Twenty-four percent of students dropping out is not good news,” O’Connell said. “In fact, any student dropping out of school is one too many, and the data reveal a disturbingly high dropout rate for Latinos and African Americans. But, the dropout rate itself is only part of the story.
“Now, using the new student-level data we will have a much clearer picture of why students drop out. This is data-rich information that will be a powerful tool to better target resources, assistance, and interventions to keep students in school and on track.”
Individual student-level data allows districts and the state to collect and report what becomes of students who leave school. Each student withdrawing from a school is assigned one of 28 “withdrawal codes,” indicating, for example, whether that student graduated, dropped out, withdrew, left the state or country, or completed their education in other ways.
SSIDs also make possible more accurate reporting about how many students neither graduated nor dropped out. Some of these students are referred to as “completers” because they received a certificate of attendance or other credential in lieu of a diploma. Examples would be students who passed the GED exam or special education students who receive certificates of completion.
ACSA believes the better able the state is to collect accurate student data, the more able school leaders will be to use that data to reach the rigorous standards set for the state’s 6 million students.
Concerns remain, however, including the fact that dropout rates for highly mobile student populations – such as those served by county offices or participating in the Alternative Schools Accountability Model – cannot be accurately assessed.
SSIDs will eventually be tracked through the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, or CALPADS, which will maintain longitudinal, individual student-level data including student demographics, program participation, grade level, enrollment, course enrollment and completion, discipline, state assessment, teacher assignment, and other data required to meet state and federal reporting requirements.
CALPADS is scheduled to be fully implemented with all districts in the 2009-10 school year. However, funding for the project continues to be a concern, especially approval of funding to train local educational agencies on how to report SSIDs accurately.
“Accurately tracking transfer data is critical to the success of educators who will receive these students in their classrooms and schools,” said ACSA Legislative Advocate Sherry Skelly Griffith. “But it won’t be accurate until the governor and the Legislature pay the full costs of implementing CALPADS and the training and development needed for school personnel to track highly mobile students.
“Though we are starting the process of using student identifiers, which ACSA strongly supports, we don’t believe this data is able to show an accurate dropout rate until we have comparative data over time.”
Until student-identifier data are collected over four years, CDE will still be reporting an estimated four-year graduation rate and a derived four-year dropout rate. In addition, school districts can continue to review the 2006-07 dropout and graduation data over the next month and make corrections. Any updated data will be posted by CDE in September 2008.
To download dropout data, visit CDE’s DataQuest at http:/dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest.