A few years ago, the term "
dropout factory" was everywhere: lamented by the leaders of the so-called school reform movement, attached to alarmist headlines, bandied about in my graduate school discussions, and featured most prominently in "Waiting for Superman." Our schools were in a crisis, the film proclaimed; America had fallen behind.
Burnout factories: the challenge of retaining great teachers in charter schools
Among the initiatives are closing ''
dropout factory'' schools.
High school grad rate at 4 out of 5
Soribel Genao, a Dominican and Haitian American, also has the affirming ring of "For Us, By Us." Genao grew up in a gritty Lower East Side neighborhood in New York and attended a "
dropout factory" high school.
The visceral appeal
While progress is encouraging, a deeper look at the data reveals that gains in graduation rates and declines in
dropout factory high schools occurred unevenly across states and subgroups of students (e.g.
Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic. Annual Update, 2013
For example, a September Frontline episode featured Sharpstown High of the Houston Independent School District, labeled by a Johns Hopkins study as a notorious "
dropout factory" where at least 40 percent of freshmen don't graduate.
Public media take on the dropout crisis
Allen pointed to a 2012 report released by a coalition of national education research organizations that showed Texas had made a dramatic reduction in the number of "
dropout factory" schools - defined as graduating less than 60 percent of their students in four years between 2002 and 2010.
Texas High School Graduation Rates Among Top Nationally, But Why?
Also: An update released at the summit reveals the number of "
dropout factory" high schools, where 40% or more of students fail to graduate on time, continues to fall.
Call to action
(When such reports surfaced, Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn immediately stepped in and forced seven of the school's nine trustees to resign.) When a
dropout factory like Chicago State turns in a 13 percent graduation rate, it's business as usual.
College dropout factories: the American higher education system shunts striving low-income students into a class of schools invisible to the elite. The only thing these schools do well is drive their students to quit
Adult civic leaders were activist enough; reacting to a 2007 Johns Hopkins University report calling Richmond "a
dropout factory," they inaugurated a Third Grade Reading Academy for early intervention.
Kids steal the show at Sixtieth All-America City Awards
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's a nickname no principal could be proud of: "
Dropout Factory," a high school where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year.
Study Ranks 1 in 10 high schools as 'dropout factories'
"The school I attended on the Lower East Side was one of the worst-performing schools and was known as a
dropout factory," recalls the now assistant professor at the City University of New York's Queens College.
Willing to lead: Soribel Genao's upbringing in a lower-income Latino community inspires her to be part of a conversation about education and diversity
The number of "
dropout factory" high schools--and the number of students attending them--has also declined significantly over the last decade, particularly within suburbs and towns and in the South, and at a more accelerated rate within cities in recent years.
Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic. Executive Summary. Annual Update, 2012
The number of "
dropout factory" high schools fell by 13%--from 2,007 such schools in 2002 to 1,746 in 2008.
Dropouts--by the numbers
Furthermore, the number of "
dropout factory" high schools (where less than 60% of students who start out as freshmen make it to their senior year) decreased by 13%, from 2,007 in 2002 to 1,746 in 2008.
Everyone graduates
Balfanz sees poverty as the key correlate among schools in his "
dropout factory" designation.
Black children still left behind: educators seek new strategies to address persistent achievement gaps and discrimination against African-American students