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1 in 4 US teens dropout of high school, new program seeks change

by Tina Kells | October 28, 2008 at 12:49 pm

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New federal rules introduced today will require high schools to improve their dropout rates for specific demographic groups. The move comes after government studies revealed that U.S. students quit high school at alarmingly high rates; 1 in 4 on average, and as high as 1 in 3 for some groups.

The new rules are an extension of the very popular "No Child Left Behind" program that targets school success for kids in grades 3 through 8. The program will require schools to track dropout rates by demographics group such as; age, race, socio-economic background, and learning or physical disability.

The schools will have to improve their overall drop out rates, as well as the drop out rates of the identified groups. Some schools with low overall dropout rates have higher than normal levels for visible minorities and the disabled. The program will help identify these schools and ensure that adequate supports are put into place to help at-risk students.

One in four students quits high school, a grim rate that will have to improve under new federal rules. Schools and states will now have to track and lift the graduation rates for all students, including minorities and students with disabilities, under regulations being announced Tuesday by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. Among black and Hispanic kids, one in three drops out of school.

A school might have a high graduation rate but still have a low rate for black or Hispanic students or for kids with disabilities. Making schools responsible for progress in every group of students puts pressure on schools to improve.

The new rules are an attempt to extend the No Child Left Behind education law to the high school grades, and they come in the waning days of the Bush administration, which made the law a signature domestic achievement.