Pinellas wants to overhaul dropout prevention

The Pinellas school district is gearing up to radically revamp its dropout prevention programs, with top district officials acknowledging today that current efforts are not working.

There are no details yet, but a committee that began meeting this week has been given wide latitude to "dream big" -- and told to keep student interest in mind.

"We need to be asking students, 'What would you like? What do you need to learn? And how can we keep you in school?' " Cathy Fleeger, the district's chief academic officer, told School Board members at a workshop today. "We need to think about the Burger King. Have it my way."

The committee, which includes school officials and representatives from community groups and other public agencies, is scheduled to issue detailed recommendations in January. In the meantime, it will survey at-risk students and recent dropouts.

Florida dropouts lose $27 billion in lifetime earnings

And that's just for the (estimated) 104,000 students who did not graduate from Florida high schools in 2009, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education. The alliance, which puts out a brief like this one for each state every year, also calculates that a 5 percent increase in Florida's male graduation rate would yield $507 million each year from a combination of crime-related savings and additional revenue.

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Attendance and grades: Should they be linked?

In Florida, schools aren't supposed to award a high school student credit for a course if the teen doesn't receive at least 135 hours of "bona fide" instruction. Districts may impose stricter penalties for excessive absences, but that's a local choice.

A Virginia school district has for years told kids that if they skip class three times in a quarter without a legit excuse, they will get an automatic F. But now, in much the same spirit as the Hernando discussion over whether to issue zero grades for failure, the Fairfax school district is scrapping that attendance clause.

"There's no hope for that grade at that point," district director of intervention and prevention services Teresa Zutter told the Washington Post. "The student says: 'Why should I try? I can't undo this mistake.'"

The district isn't giving students a free pass to skip, mind you. It's just removing the failure as an immediate consequence.

Like Hernando's grading discussion, this raises questions and probably will generate heated debate. One possible take: Virtual school takes the seat time issue out of the equation, making education about achievement more than attendance. Shouldn't traditional schools take the same approach? Anyone?

Education commissioner: Policy change makes diplomas more valuable

The state had no choice but to abruptly change its graduation policies last week, Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith told the Gradebook today. But the change makes a Florida diploma more valuable and its graduation rate more credible, he said.

“It’s a fairness issue. It’s a truth in advertising issue,” Smith said. “Your mom and dad, employers, the students have a right to know” what it takes to earn a standard diploma.

“This is good public policy,” he continued. “To be able to have a clear definition as to what is required to graduate in Florida (and) very clearly defined standards of achievement.”

At issue is the “GED exit option,” which the state threw on the dust heap Friday night. Most Florida high school students earn standard diplomas by earning 24 credits, maintaining a 2.0 GPA and passing the 10th grade Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. But under the GED exit option, students who fell short on credits or GPAs could still earn a standard diploma if: 1) they passed the GED and the FCAT; or 2) they passed the GED and earned a high enough score on college entrance exams.

Florida districts upset about sudden change in graduation policy

School district officials around Tampa Bay are among others statewide who are voicing concerns about a sudden shift in Florida graduation policy that could put some students at greater risk of dropping out.

The change, announced by the Department of Education in a late Friday memo, will doom hundreds of Tampa Bay students who were in alternative programs that promised them a shot at a standard diploma, the officials said.

“They’ve ripped the hope out of these kids,” Dee Burns, who oversees dropout prevention in Pinellas, told the Gradebook. “They deserve to have adults keeping our word to them.”

At issue is the “GED exit option,” which has allowed several thousand high school students to graduate with standard diplomas each year even though they do not have enough credits or a high enough grade point average. Under the option, they could still earn a standard diploma if: 1) they passed the GED and the FCAT exit exam; or 2) they passed the GED and earned a high enough score on either the SAT or ACT college entrance exams.

Even if the DOE had good reasons to kill the option – critics have long accused the state of using it to pad graduation rates - it should have offered a future shut-down date so students currently working towards the option could finish, Burns said. About 300 Pinellas students will be affected in the coming year, she said.

Want to solve Florida's graduation rate? Kick out the troublemakers

Over many years covering graduation, we've heard teachers say that the best form of class-size reduction would be to let them choose who goes. They could reach a class of 29, many have affirmed, if they could just get rid of the 30th kid in the back row who causes so many problems.

Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas suggests they might be on to something, especially if Florida is serious about improving its low high school graduation rate:

For a teacher, having one of these kids in a class is like trying to teach with a string of firecrackers going off. He becomes a huge distraction and soaks up class time. Other students get caught up in the mayhem. Followers get led astray.

Put three or four of these kids in a class and the teacher's job becomes less about teaching and more about managing the situation. ...

For lack of a better plan, we let them sit in class and ruin school for the good kids.

Your thoughts?

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How to dissuade kids from dropping out of high school?

Don't hire them.

That's Texas education commissioner Robert Scott's suggestion. According to the Dallas Morning News, Scott — who's already facing criticism for the way his agency counts dropouts — has asked his state's business community to stop hiring people without high school diplomas.

"It would send a powerful message to these kids to stay in school," he told the Morning News. "It would be better for them, better for businesses and better for the state in the long run."

Bill Hammond, leader of the Texas Association of Business, immediately trashed the idea as unworkable.

"There are cases where kids who drop out get back on track first by becoming employed and then later continuing their education," he told the paper. "To condemn those kids to no employment seems pretty hard-hearted to me."

Almost sounds like a Florida argument, doesn't it?

Why do kids skip school?

Here’s one answer, from Leroy Pompia, a man in his 50s who’s learning how to read better at the Tomlinson Adult Learning Center in St. Petersburg. “I played hookey because I felt I wasn’t learning and I was embarrassed,” he writes in the latest newsletter from the Literacy Council of St. Petersburg.

Here’s Pompia’s story as it was printed:

As a little boy, when I was coming up in life, I didn’t go to school very much. My mother moved a lot because of her relationship with her husband. As a child, I had to move with her and didn’t get to go to school very often.

When I was at school, I felt different from the other kids. I didn’t think I was as smart as them. I also never was in one place long enough to make friends.

Another dismal conclusion about Florida dropouts

Well, shucks. Just when somebody says Florida isn’t Mississippi after all, somebody else brings up our pathetic graduation rates again.

The latest to do so: the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University and the Alternative Schools Network, which figures in this report released today that 423,529 young Floridians between the ages of 16 and 24 were high school dropouts in 2007.

That’s 20.1 percent of all folks in that age group. The national rate: 16 percent.

The report apparently doesn’t say whether the rates are improving. (We couldn’t locate it at the link above, but we’re told it should be up any minute.)

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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Dropout prevention summit comes to Clearwater

Have some ideas for how Florida can reduce its student dropout rate? Looking for some methods to keep kids in school?

The Florida Department of Education's Dropout Prevention Summit might be the place for you. See the conference program for details.

Scheduled to run Jan. 12-13 at the Belleview Biltmore Resort and Spa in Clearwater, the event aims to increase public awareness of Florida's dropout problems and to identify current and potential collaborative efforts to promote student achievement and graduation.

The summit is free and open to the public. But you do have to register online.

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State dropout rate improves

Even as Florida's overall enrollment dropped last year, the number of high school students earning regular diplomas rose by 4.42 percent while the number of dropouts declined by 24.4 percent, according to newly released statistics.

In raw numbers, that's 11,508 fewer students who dropped out in 2007-08 than the year before, and 6,019 more students who graduated from high school. Also, the state had 26,947 fewer students who were retained in 2007-08 than in 2006-07.

Locally, the numbers looked like this (change in graduates, dropouts and retentions):

• Pinellas: 4.92 percent; -40.77 percent; -20.5 percent
• Hernando: 7.41 percent, -11.79 percent; 3.92 percent
• Hillsborough: 3.01 percent, -6.28 percent; -9.66 percent
• Pasco: 10.65 percent; -38.56 percent; 8.12 percent

To see the complete spreadsheets, click on the links: dropout data, graduates data and non-promotions data.

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NCLB to target dropout rates

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings is in South Carolina today to announce the latest changes to No Child Left Behind. The new twist is that schools now will have to improve their dropout rates in order to attain adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under the federal law.

And it's not just a school's overall rate that must decline, the AP reports (via USA Today). The new regulations will apply to all demographic subgroups, so Hispanic students, for example, do not fall behind while the rest of the student body shows gains. And for the first time, all states will be required to measure dropouts using the same formula.

"We haven't really tackled high school accountability, and this is a giant step toward doing that," Spellings told the AP.

NCLB remains controversial, with some groups calling for even bigger changes and others pushing for its demise. Congress has yet to renew the legislation, and the Bush administration is on its way out. Who knows where this really is headed.

Spellings plans to make her formal announcement at noon. Interested? You can catch the Web cast live by clicking here at noon. To see the DOE's press release on the new rules, click here. To read an interesting take from the Fordham Foundation, click here.

Pasco sees dropout numbers decline

The numbers are marked "draft preliminary," but they looked so good to Pasco leaders that the district couldn't help but crow about them.

According to the DOE, Pasco had 566 students drop out in 2007-08, compared to 835 in 2006-07. That's a 32.2 percent decrease. Superintendent Heather Fiorentino credited the district's graduation enhancement program for the success.

"We are moving in the right direction and will continue to build upon this success by providing students with the support and intervention services they need to be prepared for their future," Fiorentino, who is seeking re-election, said in a press release.

Also of note, but not highlighted in the press release, the same report showed a 9.38 percent increase in the number of Pasco students not promoted to the next grade -- 3,126, up from 2,858. It also showed a 9.35 percent rise in the number of students receiving standard diplomas.

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Everybody's responsibility

How many times have you heard the proverb "It takes a village to raise a child"?

Lots, right?

Well, apparently the message still needs to get through. So Miami-Dade mayor Manny Diaz and superintendent Rudy Crew (shown here) brought it to the U.S. Conference of Mayors this weekend during a panel on improving graduation rates. (See the Miami Herald report here.)

That's right. They were telling civic leaders about the role they can play in helping kids succeed in school. Education - it's not just or schools.

''We can't get at these children - we can't get at their communities, we can't get at the derivative of their pain -- if we don't link our arms and create a much different architecture than we currently have,'' Crew said.

Comics curriculum

When it comes to reading, some parents and teachers see Superman and Super Mario as the problem.

But a growing number of educators is turning to super heroes and graphic novels as a way to engage kids who don't seem to like reading, the NY Times reports today. Advocates say the students have fun while gaining needed skills.

"For kids who may be struggling and for kids who may be new to the English language, that visual sequence is a very powerful tool," said Michael Bitz, who founded the Comic Book Project as a graduate student and is now its director.

That message has resonated locally, too. Count Pasco County teacher Marla Spelman among the converts who has embraced comics, reasoning that "Reading is reading."

Doubters abound, though. They worry that it's just an opportunity to water down studies.

"If you're going to use comics in the classroom at all, which I have serious doubts about, it should be only as a motivational tool," Diane Ravitch, an education professor at New York University, told the NY Times.

(Image, superman.com)

GEDs and the Gandy Gap

Could more GEDs be one reason Hillsborough's graduation rate is a baffling 15 percentage points better than Pinellas's? Maybe. The state Department of Education includes GED diplomas when it calculates grad rates. And according to this year's stats, Hillsborough students earned GEDs at more than twice the rate of their counterparts across the Gandy.

Hillsborough's official state grad rate of 79.1 percent dips 2.8 percent when GEDs are excluded. Pinellas's official rate of 64.5 percent dips 1.1 percent.

Maybe Hillsborough is more aggressive than Pinellas in steering struggling students towards GED programs? That's pure speculation. But it's a safe bet Pinellas Superintendent Clayton Wilcox is taking a close look at all the possibilities (see Friday's St. Petersburg Times  story here) as he tries to get to the bottom of a gap that is counter-intuitive, given that Hillsborough has a greater percentage of at-risk kids.

While we're on the subject, grad-rate experts often slam Florida for "padding" its rates by including GEDs. So how much of a difference do GED's make? The state's official grad rate, announced Nov. 30 (see Times story here) was 72.4 percent. But take out GEDs and it falls to 70.1 percent. Not huge, maybe, but significant.

In some districts, especially some of the smaller, rural ones, the difference is  huge: GEDs account for nearly 12 percentage points in Glades, 18 in Hamilton and 33 in Liberty. To see DOE's district-by-district breakdown, click here here.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter; Times photo of the Gandy Bridge, 2006

Failure not an option

No, really.

 A Volusia County elementary school has decided to dump D and F grades, instead giving struggling students time to master the material they've had troubles with, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. Instead of being labeled failures, the kids will be marked "in progress" with an I on their report cards.

Once they become proficient, they'll get an A, B or C to replace the I.

The initiative, which could go countywide if successful, marks a shift from the philosophy that all children can learn to one that all children will learn, officials told the paper. Detailed information about what each student must do to improve should help parents and teachers more than a simple letter grade, principal Sandra Kaye reasoned.

The article didn't get into what happens to the kids who never seem to get ahead. But it raises an interesting set of questions. Is it realistic to assume that all children will earn a passing grade? Is it appropriate to tell kids that so long as they keep trying, they'll never fail? And, on a pragmatic level, how long can you keep a youngster who remains "in progress" in elementary school?

Let us know what you think.

Don't blame the FCAT for this one

(Times photo, 2006)

Contrary to concerns raised early in the Jeb era, the FCAT graduation policy has NOT resulted in higher high school dropout rates, says a report issued Friday by the Legislature's respected research arm. Not only has the grad rate gone up (slightly) since the policy went into effect in the 1999-2000 school year, but the percentage of students passing the 10th grade reading and math FCATs (which is what they must to do to get a standard diploma) has nearly doubled, according to the Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability.

OPPAGA analysts tracked students who entered 9th grade in the 1998-1999 school year - the year before the policy went into effect - as well as the cohorts for the next three years. The percentage of kids earning standard diplomas four years later went from 62.9 percent in 2002 to 65.0 percent in 2005. Meanwhile, while only 38 percent of the class of 2002 passed both tests, 66 percent of the class of 2005 did.

Says the report: "This improved performance may be due to improved instruction focused on meeting the Sunshine State Standards, more students retaking the tests, and/or schools providing additional remedial services. Districts reported providing additional remedial services including frequent monitoring, intensive tutoring, intensive remediation math and reading classes, and after-school assistance."

Could one possible translation of that be: The FCAT did some good?

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

 

Today's news

IS THAT A GUN IN YOUR BOOK BAG? Gun advocates have started the argument that if more Virginia Tech students were packing heat, the death count from last week's massacre might be lower. Others suggest that's a ludicrous thought. But it appears time for the debate on concealed weapons laws for colleges and universities. Only Utah allows it now.

LIFE LESSONS: To eighth graders, $7 an hour might seem like a lot of money. A new program in Hernando County teaches them how quickly that money is gone in the real world. The goal is to show the kids - especially those thinking about dropping out - the value of an education vs. that of the low pay they'd get in a low-end job.

MORE GREEN SCHOOLS: Pasco County also is building more environmentally sensitive schools (yesterday we told you about Pinellas County's effort), with one elementary going green when it opens in January and another on the books.

TABOO TATTOOS: Pasco teachers will have to meet a community standard for their visible tattoos and piercings, if the School Board adopts a proposed policy on professional appearance. Leaders in other districts say they wouldn't follow that lead - especially without negotiating with the teachers union.

STUDENT FUNDING TO RISE: House and Senate budget makers agree in principle to increase the per-student funding level by $457, the Associated Press reports. The Orlando Sentinel reports that most of the new money will come from local property taxes.

STILL NOT ENOUGH: Students might get more funding, but is there enough money for teacher raises? Broward County is finding the answer to be "no" as it enters a new round of contract negotiations, the Sun-Sentinel reports. The union frets that after all this time, only a handful of its 37,000 teachers have surpassed the $100,000 pay level.

FROM THE OP-ED PAGES: Florida needs an education commissioner who "does not burn incense and chant every time the FCAT is mentioned," the Palm Beach Post says.

Today's news

ART MATTERS: The Wimauma Academy does all it can to ensure its students, mostly the children of migrant farm workers, get exposed to things like classical music. And the kids love it.

NOT YOUR ORDINARY TEENS: These Hernando County high school students call themselves the Free Radicals. They like to think deep thoughts, and they want to make a difference.

THAT'S JUST MEAN: Reacting to a parent's complaint, the principal of East Lake High in Pinellas County bans the joke superlatives "worst hair" and "most likely to drop out of college." The students say: Chill.

EASING THE TRANSITION: Pasco County changes its summer school programs to help struggling fifth- and eighth-graders make it to the next level.

MAKE THEM HAVE DEGREES: Gov. Charlie Crist tells a group of pre-k advocates he will lobby lawmakers to require pre-k teachers to have four-year degrees, the Associated Press reports.

THAT SCHOOL IS GREEN: Sure, it cost more to build. But Palm Beach County officials figure they'll make the money back in five years with savings on energy and water, the Palm Beach Post reports. Plus, you get preferred parking for your hybrid.

LEARN A LANGUAGE WITHOUT TALKING: American Sign Language is a popular course in Broward County high schools, the Sun-Sentinel reports. To improve, the students help out in middle school programs for the deaf and hard of hearing.

FAMU UPDATE: University leaders say they'll ask Florida lawmakers not to hand over control of their engineering school to Florida State. Student leaders, meanwhile, do it, walking the Capitol to plead their case. Not everyone is convinced, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

Make them pay

Florida lawmakers are not the only ones considering whether to send under-age dropouts to vocational school before letting them leave school. Politicians in England have the same idea in mind, according to the Guardian. What's more, the English leaders plan to fine the students who refuse to complete their education. The hardest core of those who disobey the attendance law could face criminal proceedings. Some criticize the idea as too punitive. But education secretary Alan Johnson says, "We need to ensure that we have the right carrots and sticks in place." Your thoughts?

Drop out, pay up

It’s impossible to measure the personal loss when a kid drops out of school. But there’s no question the economic impacts are huge, too. Taxpayers could save $45 billion every year if the nation’s drop-out rate were cut in half, according to a new report headed up by respected education economist Henry Levin.

The average public savings for each new graduate: $127,000. For black males, who are most at risk of dropping out, the number is $186,500.

What does that mean closer to home? The Alliance for Excellent Education figures that Florida's economy could have benefited from an additional $24.7 billion in wages over time if the dropouts from the state's class of 2006 had instead earned their diplomas.

The Sunshine State has long had one of the worst graduation rates in the country. Under former Gov. Jeb Bush, it crept up as high as 71.9 percent, but fell back to 71 percent last year.

The Southern Regional Education Board, which includes Florida, issues similar dire forecasts. "All states and local school systems should be engaging in a number of strategies that can help more students succeed," SREB President Dave Spence said.

Key Florida lawmakers are taking up the charge. Rep. David Simmons, who heads the House Committee on 21st Century Competitiveness, met late yesterday with Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee chairman Don Gaetz to work out a plan to address the state's poor dropout rate.

"I proposed to Sen. Gaetz that we look at the concept of having every student that does fill out the declaration (to drop out) be mandatorily sent to a class that will include one year of vocational training," Simmons said. "I hope these students, after one year, if they get their vocational certificate, will be prepared to go out and do something in life."

Gaetz said he expected the House and Senate to have companion bills seeking to accomplish the same goals. The Senate version will focus on improving career and technical education, which he contends is a strong alternative to keep many underperforming kids in school. He ought to know, having created a successful career and technical institute program while superintendent of Okaloosa County.

"We have found in our experience that most of the dropouts are not dropping out because they can't do the work or because they don't have the intellectual ability to stay in school," Gaetz said. "Really, most of the students who dropped out of high school dropped out because they're bored out of their gourd."

- Ron Matus and Jeff Solochek, updated at 2:10 p.m.