Study: 37 Percent Of Black Students In Calif. Drop Out

San Francisco Chronicle:

More than a third of California's African American public high school students dropped out before graduation day, a startling number and one that's on the rise, according to 2009 data released Tuesday.

The 37 percent African American dropout rate, up three percentage points from the prior year, was far above that of any other ethnic subgroup. Hispanic students had the second highest rate at 27 percent.

Read the whole story: San Francisco Chronicle

Comments

[keepemguessing]

12:49 PM on 12/14/2010

After reading the full article, the blame is trying to be laid at the feet of funding: "O'Connell blamed the increase on state budget cuts, which have resulted in larger class sizes, fewer art and music classes, cuts to sports, fewer counselors and less access to career/technical courses - all programs that can help keep struggling or at-risk students in school.". But I don't think money is the biggest issue.

One of the variable that the article failed to address, is why classes are so crowded in the first place. They are not crowded primarily because of budget cuts, and they're certainly not crowded because of a baby boom. Could it be that they are crowded in large part by the huge influx of Spanish speaking illegal aliens? That must be at least part of the problem, because there is a huge focus on teaching English as a second language to help these kids assimilate.

So now what would happen if special attention was paid to one group of students over another because of language issues? What would happen to that neglected group if their parents weren't more involved with their kid's education/school work as well? Might the drop out rate sky rocket for that group?

I'm also curious to know why drop out rates for Hispanics were included in this article, but not for other ethnicities.

[aaronsrx]

05:17 AM on 12/14/2010

Is there anything from a sub-culture that promotes ignorance, greed, unaccountability & lawlessness to have us expect anything less?!?! The problem is a cultural one: an identity crisis in which kids are told they have a better chance of being a pro athlete or rap star than a college graduate. It starts with the home & from what I see in public as weak role models all lead to a new generation of criminals and welfare queens, especially in inner city youth; not just blacks, but all underprivileged kids who grow up under the burden of a unending cycle of poverty, teenage pregnancy, drug use and violence. Unfortunately there is no easy answer, but a tough road that most parents don't seem interested in traveling.

[Busterman]

07:30 PM on 12/12/2010

See this is the reason we need to tax the rich. What we need is to spend $50,000.00 a year per student, build them new schools, new busses, buy them clothes, all thier meals and give each family a new house. Then everything will be OK, Ohh and don't forget college. Ohh and a goverment job.

[keepemguessing]

12:31 PM on 12/14/2010

You forgot amnesty for illegals too.

[phishphan]

10:32 PM on 12/11/2010

It's not the fault of African Americans, nothing is their fault.

[Sunny California]

03:08 AM on 12/13/2010

Stop generalizing please

[phishphan]

03:51 PM on 12/13/2010

ok...little bit of truth in there though.

[boyoboy]

09:19 PM on 12/11/2010

As a Californian, I think that more integration would help. If parents are willing have children from subpar schools integrate into successful schools. It's not just he curriculum, but it's also the vibe the kids get from a student body that is college-bound. It will help change the kids priorities and aspirations. I would like to see every school above an 800 API open a percentage of their enrollment to students from lower performing schools. Not a mandate. I know some parents don't want their kids to leave their neighborhood schools. It would be a school choice option. Some children would also need assistance with transportation.

[Busterman]

07:31 PM on 12/12/2010

A good way to increase school violence

[boyoboy]

11:25 AM on 12/14/2010

A good way to provide better education to children.  But, of course, some folks don't want poor kids going to their schools.  I see evidence of that.

[dyldrix]

05:16 AM on 12/13/2010

not saying I don't agree with you...but if your logic is vibe counts...then arguably spreading kids with a bad vibe just means a wider spread problem. There are numerous gangs in CA that began in one prison that have become national powerhouses because someone got the idea to break the gang up and send them to different prisons.

[boyoboy]

11:38 AM on 12/14/2010

I'm not sure jumping to a gang scenario is the right way to look at it.  There are lots of good kids trapped in high-poverty, high-crime schools.

Let's take West Contra Costa County School District, for example.  Say Danville or San Ramon has open enrollment.  The vast majority of any kids applying to those schools will be from families who care about their kids and want them to have a better education.  Do you really think gang people are going to apply for open enrollment?  Not quite.  

Open enrollment works a little like charter schools in that the parents have to work to get their kids into the school of their choice.  Parents who are invested in their kids will put in the extra effort.  School choice usually means you choose several schools, and you get placed where there is space available.

Now, this isn't intended to knock parents who elect to keep their children at their neighborhood schools.  Many parents don't want their kids traveling long distances.

Open enrollment is currently the only way we have to change the school environment for many kids trapped in high-poverty, unsafe schools.  Will every single kid benefit? No, but neither will every single kid who lives within a high-performing school district's boundaries.

No one can dispute that environment matters.

[Neaguy]

01:08 PM on 12/11/2010

Gloria Ladson Billings and Pedro Noguera---and others, those two quickly come to mind---have the way out of this crisis.

If we only listen to them, and act accordingly.

Of course that's hard to do when the major means of commucating to the public, the corporate mainstream media, mostly propagates the myths of the Bill Gates-Arne Duncan-Bloomberg-Sharpton-Canada-Guggenheim-Rhee-Gerstner-Broad-Klein crowd. (Did I leave other edu-celebrity out?)

Of course, it is very easy to get some good ideas on how to address this problem. This is still a mostly free country. But you have to want to seek out information that is not in the corporate mainstream, know where to find it, and learn how to think about it. Not easy in a country where children grow up corporate learning in schools--either directly or through the hidden curriculum---that to be an American is largely about working with no labor rights and then spending your off hours, obsessing about sports and celebrities and buying stuff and consuming it.

[OceanFive]

11:46 AM on 12/11/2010

What is the dropout rate for Asian students? Less than 2%...are they any less a minority...the big difference is that they hear a constant drumbeat about the value of education. I'm sure the dropout rates correlates with the pregnancy rate.

[veteran teacher]

04:37 PM on 12/11/2010

It's their culture. You would bring shame to your family if you didn't excel in school.

[aaronsrx]

05:26 AM on 12/14/2010

That would be the difference of cultures that accounts for margin of grad. rates.

[boyoboy]

09:04 PM on 12/11/2010

Asian students have a very high rate of suicide, too.

[Rooster Coburn]

05:19 AM on 12/11/2010

I wonder how many Asian-American students drop out in Kali. Anyone know?

[boyoboy]

09:04 PM on 12/11/2010

More commit suicide than drop out.

[farmilyman]

05:06 AM on 12/11/2010

They should give a choice of going online to high school.

[cyoohoos]

08:30 AM on 12/11/2010

No. They shouldn't. Besides, do you think the people who are dropping out have computers and broadband internet access at home? Really?

[farmilyman]

10:56 PM on 12/11/2010

There are libraries.

[Neaguy]

01:12 PM on 12/11/2010

Online ed is defective, artificial. You need to be in a classroom setting where you can discuss ideas with real human beings.

This may work for the occasional individual who has an avoidant personality. But even that should be addressed for that person, because we are essentially social creatures.

And knowledge is best constructed in a social context. Lev Vygotsky had some essential findings in this area.

Computers should be used in education to be sure, but not to break down our humanity, instead they should be used to enhance are thinking. You don't do that by encouraging more and more student who should be in the classrooms talking, debating, arguing, discussing, engaging with real human beings to go all digital.

[veteran teacher]

04:37 PM on 12/11/2010

Who monitors tests with an online course?

[farmilyman]

10:59 PM on 12/11/2010

Have you seen some of these High Schools? Do you really think it's a learning environment......it's more like a survival environment. Much better to have discussions with serious students and teachers online.

[cheeeeeeese]

09:28 PM on 12/10/2010

California how are you doing so bad?

[boyoboy]

09:11 PM on 12/11/2010

We have some of the top public schools in the nation -- about 20% of the top 100.  California's schools are very stratified as a result of Prop 13.  Prop 13 freezes property taxes at purchase price (plus a nominal annual increase and some ad valorem assessments).  We're a high-cost-of-living state with marginal school funding from the state.

So, affluent, education communities pass parcel taxes, which require a 2/3 majority vote.  Those schools get tutors and other academic enrichment for their kids, while communities in which parents have to work three jobs to survive get school closures.

The rich schools do very well.  Poor schools usually (but not always) fail.

[Spike5]

09:41 AM on 12/12/2010

So more affluent communities spend more on schools. While that may be true, it's probably also true that socio-economic status of parents is a higher predictor of school success than whether the community passed parcel taxes.

Better-funded schools certainly make a difference. But it's only one part of the answer. I read the comments in the SFGate web site. It was interesting that most focused on the supposed causes of the high drop-out rate (e.g., welfare, drugs, culture). Virtually none talked about the examples of schools that have been successful and objective research into what seem to be most effective methods and how that could be relevant to California's problems.

[mikefina]

07:31 PM on 12/10/2010

What kind of parent allows their child to drop out of high school?

[rmarie]

09:51 PM on 12/10/2010

Well, at a certain age it's out of the parent's hand. Like in Texas, after 17 a kid can drop out, move out, do just about what they want.

But I do imagine that if parents were more involved in their kid's educations and lives, this wouldn't be as likely to happen.

[Hnorc]

12:50 AM on 12/11/2010

Usually a parent who had children while still a child.

[cincinnati]

06:53 PM on 12/10/2010

As a hard core liberal I was pretty shocked by CNN's hours long program
on race relations and being black in America. They specifically said
that racism is the biggest problem, while after having kids in
inner city schools I am sure education is far more relevant
and important.

Racism is terrible, but I really doubt is quite as bad as many think.
Obviously some in the tea party or GOP are pretty sick, but I also
know many of them are sincerely concerned about spending....
of course where were they when Bush was blowing money
like crazy....???....Supporting THEM !

And racism is in everyone. I had black kids, around 12 years old,
tell me to " get out of our neighborhood " when walking my dog
several times.....yet I was a block from my home of many years,
and had lived there longer than these kids had even lived !
I don't blame them so much but their families or friends....but
when Obama's attorney general talks about racism, please
Include blacks too.

Poor black kids I saw for many years almost always did well
if the PARENTS simply made them go to school and do
homework.....and get enough sleep instead of playing
video games or whatever. This is the key much more
than the occasional poor teacher, who I agree should
be much more easily fired.

[rmarie]

09:51 PM on 12/10/2010

"Racism is terrible, but I really doubt is quite as bad as many think."

Ok, you just lost all credibility there.

[mypov123]

10:12 PM on 12/10/2010

Co-sign.

[Frank Bourne]

01:48 AM on 12/11/2010

The term "racism" itself is what has no credibility. Using it is like using a cure all tonic that just makes you sicker.

[becut]

06:02 PM on 12/10/2010

Look at the high rate of single parents for African Am children, look at research on the amount of television African Am children watch daily vs other groups, look at the rate that African Am boys are placed in Special Ed (keep them back a year), look at the fact African Am children do not see teachers that look like them (mostly young white, hispanic, very few Black Educators), also look at the fact that many African Am neighborhoods have been infiltrated with Hispanic immigrant population (theTitle I money that used to be used to support African Am children to reverse 200 years of legal racism is now being used for Bilingual Ed for illegals).

African Am parents are way too trusting. African Am parents need to work together like other groups do to protect their children, but they don't even like each other............and this is seen daily on the news with Black on Black killings. Self-hatred was taught for hundreds of years, but if you spend all your time working so hard to impress each other by buying material items (expensive weaves, designer this and that, nails, cars, bling, etc.) and don't have time to spend each night with your own child, the results are drop-outs. Motivation comes from HOME!! Just dropping your kid off at school is not enough. You should visit your child's classes (without notice) at least once per month. You have a right to visit your child's class anytime.

[Katie5]

12:37 AM on 12/11/2010

Fanned and faved

[Frank Bourne]

01:54 AM on 12/11/2010

>>"look at the rate that African Am boys are placed in Special Ed (keep them back a year)"

That's advantageous. How in the world would giving them "special education" cause them to fail?

[becut]

02:56 AM on 12/11/2010

African Am boys are over identified in Special Ed all across the US (misdiagnosed). Research indicates that boys mature a little slower than girls........in other words boys like to play. Being held back one year will give them more time to mature (most Asian boys start school one year late). Also many of these African Am boys are not being raised in the home with fathers; fathers typically are the disciplinarians in the home.

Labeling these boys as "Learning Disabled" kills their self esteem and many teachers do not understand Sp Ed therefore they beleive these kids can't learn and just give them passing grades. When in fact these children have been misdiagnosed by white Psychologist that do not understand the culture. The children are qualified based upon tasks and tests that they have never seen. As well all of these tests were designed and normed (based on what is normal for another group) for white children.

Once in Special Ed the children get further and further behind because the level of work is lowered and the pace of the work is slowed down. In CA they never get out of Sp Ed once in........they just drop out when they can't pass the HS exit exam.

Also, there is a very high correlation between Special Ed and Prison.

[stewartm0205]

04:10 PM on 12/10/2010

We have to learn that people are different and we shouldn't try to fit everyone into the same square hole. Talk to and listen and then create different programs to fit the students. Give them options. Enough already with the strict programs: 4yr of science, 4 years of math, 3yrs of a foriegn langauge. Not everybody need all of this to function. Lets figure out the minimum need and let everthing else be optional. I think two years of high school followed by vocational training is enough for some people. Give them a certificate after two years. Give them another one when they finish their vocational training. Teach them to read and write and to do simple arithmetic. Some civil and some history.

[mikefina]

07:29 PM on 12/10/2010

You have surrendered.

[rmarie]

09:54 PM on 12/10/2010

Yep, let's just make sure the minorities are the ones in those vocational programs so the White and "other" kids can be the ones to get the degrees and move into positions of power. That's the way it should be.

/sarcasm.

[WhatchaTalkinBoutWillis]

12:10 AM on 12/11/2010

Sooooo fanned and faved!

[boyoboy]

09:15 PM on 12/11/2010

We'll identify them in early childhood -- who goes to physical labor and who goes to college.

[stewartm0205]

03:59 PM on 12/10/2010

Need to go back to the two track system. One track for college bound and the other track for the trades like plumbing, electrican, mechanic. Giving some students a chance to learn partical skills and to work with their hands will keep them in school.

[boyoboy]

09:16 PM on 12/11/2010

IT appears that you chose the vocational route.