High School Dropout Rate Down in O.C.

The high school dropout rate for Orange County decreased by 25% in three years, and local educators said Monday that the improvement was the result of programs that encourage students to stay in school.

Each school district in the county except for three showed improvements in the dropout rate in 1989 over 1986 figures. The best progress was made in the Newport-Mesa, Los Alamitos and Santa Ana unified school districts, according to a report released Monday by the state schools superintendent’s office.

“We still have a long way to go to reach our goal of a 10% dropout rate by the year 2000,” said state Supt. of Schools Bill Honig at a press conference in El Monte. “But this kind of progress is really encouraging. Teachers, administrators, parents and students are working hard and, for a change, deserve some well-earned credit.”

The three districts in Orange County that showed increases in their dropout rates were Garden Grove Unified, which went from 11.9% to 13.8% in three years; Irvine Unified, from 8.8% to 9.3%; and Laguna Beach Unified, where the rate went from 4.1% to 4.6%. All three districts were still below the countywide rate of 14.7% and the statewide rate, which decreased from 24.9% in 1986 to 20.4% in 1989.

The state measures the dropout rate by comparing how many youngsters enter the 10th grade and how many of them leave high school without a diploma or its equivalent by the end of the 12th grade. A school has 45 days to account for a student who has left its campus. A request for a transcript from another school district, for example, indicates that the student may have moved and is attending another school. If the school cannot account for a student in such a way, then that student is counted as a dropout.

In 1986, the first year the state began using the standardized method to track dropouts, school districts also began implementing a variety of stay-in-school programs to combat the alarming number of youngsters abandoning their education.

In Orange County, school districts have hired outreach workers to help students individually. Districts also have started career days at elementary schools to motivate children as early as the second grade to begin setting high goals for themselves, and districts are bringing parents into the classroom to help them understand how important their support is to their children’s education.

The results, educators say, are encouraging.

“We’re pretty happy this year,” said Dale Wooley, director of research and student services at Newport-Mesa, which, among Orange County schools, showed the most dramatic improvement in its dropout rate--down to 6.4% in 1989 from 19.1% in 1986.

“We’ve put a lot more effort in the last two years in identifying at-risk students,” he said. “Once we’ve identified the kids, what we do about it varies from school to school. There are counselors involved, teachers involved.”

Santa Ana Unified, which reported the highest dropout rate in the county in 1986 at 41.8%, showed a 22.8% rate in 1989.

“We’re pleased at the reduction, but there’s still more to do,” said district Supt. Rudy Castruita.

Castruita’s district--the largest in the county and one with the highest percentage of students with limited English-speaking abilities--has introduced a series of innovative programs to keep children in school. Those include partnerships with local universities and colleges and a “Family Math” program that brings parents into the schools to learn along with their children; the efforts will soon be expanded to other schools as a “Family Reading” program.

In Garden Grove, school officials were frustrated at the slight increase in their district’s dropout rate because they also have implemented a series of efforts to encourage children to stay in school, said Alan Trudell, public information officer for the Garden Grove Unified School District. However, he said his district does not fare badly when compared to other districts whose students have similar socioeconomic backgrounds.

“Obviously, there is always room for improvement, and we’re always working in that area to fortify programs at the district level and at the school level, to reduce the dropout rate,” he said.

The Anaheim Union High School District, which has the highest dropout rate in the county, 25.4% for 1989, has shown improvements from 1986, when the rate was 28.8%.

“It’s higher than I would like it, but we’ve been working at it,” said district Supt. Cynthia Grennan. “It will continue to be a focus. We’re working very hard at identifying students at risk as early as possible. We’re beginning a guaranteed guidance service from the seventh through the 12th grades.”

“We’re working with our kids on decision-making, setting goals, attempting to the best of our ability to see that the children who may have some language problems get into a remediation program,” she said. “We’ve expanded our alternative education program.”

ORANGE COUNTY’S DROPOUT RATE

The state measures the dropout rate by contrasting the number of graduating seniors in a school with the number of 10th-graders enrolled in the same school three years earlier. A school has 45 days to account for a student who has left its campus. If during that time there is no request for a transcript for the student from another school--indicating, for example, that he has moved and enrolled in another school--then the student is counted as a dropout.

3-YEAR DROPOUT RATE Class Class Class % Change of 1989 of 1986 of 1989 1986-89 Dropouts Anaheim Union High 28.8 25.4 -11.8 1,013 Brea-Olinda Unified 4.2 3.0 -28.6 12 Capistrano Unified 17.6 10.4 -40.9 207 Fullerton Joint Union High 19.9 10.9 -45.2 414 Garden Grove Unified 11.9 13.8 16.0 432 Huntington Beach Union High 20.1 16.9 -15.9 739 Irvine Unified 8.8 9.3 5.7 148 Laguna Beach Unified 4.1 4.6 12.2 10 Los Alamitos Unified 9.5 4.3 -54.7 26 Newport-Mesa Unified 19.1 6.4 -66.5 110 Orange Unified 21.7 21.3 -1.8 505 Placentia Unified 8.0 5.0 -37.5 80 Saddleback Valley Unified 11.9 10.0 -16.0 194 Santa Ana Unified 41.8 22.8 -45.5 601 Tustin Unified 17.5 12.1 -30.9 129 County Total 19.6 14.7 -25.0 4,620 STATEWIDE TOTALS 24.9 20.4 -18.1 74,330

Source: State Department of Education