Disparity in dropout statistics at Central

Administrators say they're working on new tactics to address the problem.

It might be an ethnicity issue. It could be socio-economic. More likely it's a combination.

Whatever the reason, only 55 percent of black students graduated from Central High School in 2003-2004, compared to 85 percent of white students -- the largest disparity among districts of its size in Missouri.

In that school year, 20 of 36 black students at Cape Girardeau's sole public high school graduated compared with 217 of 253 white students.

At a time when inaccurate reporting of that data has brought criticism for school districts across the country, administrators in Cape Girardeau say they're working on several new tactics to address the disparity in dropout rates.

"Sometimes it's hard to track down what happens to the students. If we're not sure what happened to them, it will show up as a dropout," said Rob Huff, assistant superintendent in Cape Girardeau.

Last week, the Washington-based advocacy group Education Trust released a report highlighting problems in many states, including Missouri, with inaccuracies in dropout data and low standards for improving graduation rates.

This year was the first time states were required to report dropout data broken down by race to the U.S. Department of Education under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Under NCLB, states must set annual goals for improving those rates. Missouri was among 31 states that determined any improvement is sufficient to meet the annual goal requirement.

"We concur with a lot of the ideas and suggestions of Education Trust. Our system would work better with better data," said Jim Morris, director of public information with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Morris said the state is looking at ways to strengthen the reporting system, including using individual student records to collect data rather than relying on totaled information from school districts.

Those numbers can be misleading if districts don't do a good job following up on students after they leave school.

"School districts spend a lot of time trying to track kids now," Morris said. "Part of the general movement in accountability is we have to have more precise data, as we learned with No Child Left Behind."

Cape Girardeau has the worst dropout rate for black students among the 38 districts with 3,000 to 6,000 students in Missouri, but local officials say other districts may not be as stringent in their reporting methods and may not have comparable minority student populations.

"Yes, we have a challenge in front of us," said Central principal Dr. Mike Cowan. "But there's a big debate right now about how those numbers are reported, and the reality is they're not consistently reported from school district to school district, so the data becomes very difficult to compare."

There are also differences in the minority populations from district to district.

For example, the graduation rate for black students in the Jackson School District last year was 100 percent, but there were only seven black graduates total.

Dr. Debra Mitchell Braxton, director of Project Upward Bound at Southeast Missouri State University, said the disparities in dropout rates among minorities and white students can be traced back to racial segregation.

"When you don't have the same opportunities for education for every child, then you'll see those disparities," said Braxton. "It's going to take years to bridge that gap."

Project Upward Bound is a U.S. Department of Education program that helps low-income high school students graduate and prepare for college.

Braxton said her program does not directly target minorities but does pay attention to dropout rates.

"Most parents do want their kids to stay in school, they're not encouraging them to drop out," said Braxton. "But it's hard to teach that education is important when you haven't been able to get it yourself."

Huff, who oversees elementary and secondary education in the district, said there is a connection in Cape Girardeau between minorities and poverty, but black students are still less likely to graduate than poor white students.

"From the parents I've talked to, they don't believe it's any overt racism but a lack of understanding," Huff said. "So much of student success is dependent upon parents. If parents had a bad experience, they don't feel comfortable coming to the school, and that will have an impact on a child's education."

The district hopes to decrease the number of dropouts through a new credit recovery program at the Alternative Education Center and better orientation for students.

Huff said the credit recovery program allows students who fall just a few credits shy of graduation to make those courses up after school at the Alternative Education Center. In the past, students who were missing just a class or two for graduation were likely to drop out rather than show up the following fall to get the necessary credit.

Central has also implemented a more extensive orientation program for freshmen, one that administrators hope will keep them on track for graduation throughout high school. Administrators are gathering additional data regarding racial and poverty issues in hopes of identifying trends and targeting problem areas.

"It's a challenge, there's no doubt about it," said Cowan. "And we don't meet that challenge by sticking our heads in the sand and pretending it doesn't exist."

cmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128

Failing to graduate

Missouri schools of 3,000 to 6,000 students with the lowest graduation rates among black students in 2003 to 2004:

School District Black Graduates White Graduates

Cape Girardeau 55.6 percent (20 of 36) 85.8 percent (217 of 253)

Raymore-Peculiar 69.2 percent (9 of 13) 87 percent (300 of 345)

Belton 78.6 percent (11 of 14) 85.4 percent (269 of 315)

Meramec Valley 66.7 percent (4 of 6) 85.7 percent (243 of 273)

Carthage 66.7 percent (4 of 6) 84.6 percent (203 of 240)

Troy 77.8 percent (7 of 9) 85.6 percent (322 of 376)

Hannibal 60.6 percent (20 of 33) 85.8 percent (206 of 240)

Sedalia 68.8 percent (11 of 16) 84.2 percent (278 of 330)

Normandy 71.5 percent (138 of 193) 100 percent (4 of 4)

University City 60.2 percent (187 of 274) 63.6 percent (28 of 441)

Source: DESE