News-Record.com

The annual high school dropout rate is one of the indicators of "good schools" that is used by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction each year. Keeping students from dropping out of school and continuing their education is vital to their, the state's, and the nation's economic future.

We were a bit disappointed in the coverage and would have like to see such good news on the front page. But, on the bright side there is always next year. We do not plan to stop until all students in Guilford County graduate from high school. We deeply appreciate the hard work of our staff, students, parents, and community partners. With their help, we have cut our dropout rate in one-half since 2000. That is significant when you consider that since 2000 the number of our students receiveing free and reduced meals has increased from 38 to 50 percent, that our district has been growing by 1,700 students a year, and our student population has shifted from 48 to 57 percent non-white. In addition, we have seen the number of students with Limited English Proficiency doubled in the last last year.

Our records show a high correlation between high school dropouts, below grade level reading scores, and school retention. We have a lot of work left to do to make sure our students learn to read on grade level by the end of the third grade and that they develop the skills needed to be promoted each year. That takes a lot of work, support, and resources from many of different partners.

Reducing the dropout rate is the very first initiative that Dr. Grier proposed after he took over. It was within six weeks of his coming. It has been a personal goal for him and others have left him alone on this matter. The reason for the success is that the pursuit of the goal never changed. He worked on it 24/7 and others knew it was his high priority. We must focus on a problem every day for years to make much progress. I am thankful to Dr. Grier for showing us how to make it happen in one area. Now let's improve Andrews, Smith, Dudley and High Point Central. It can be done.

Now lets talk about what is going the other way.
Average SAT scores downward trend. In fact of our neighborhood counties GC is the only one with this trend.
Another up.
Gang activity, violence in the schools, school suspensions.

Didnt some other stuff go down?

By the way, who is going to flip our hamburgers?

Terry Grier,

You said "That is significant when you consider that since 2000 the number of our students receiveing free and reduced meals has increased from 38 to 50 percent, that our district has been growing by 1,700 students a year, and our student population has shifted from 48 to 57 percent non-white."

Does this comment mean that your view is that poor and non-white students graduating is front page news? Does that mean that your expectations for them and their academic achievement is less?

He thinks it is significant because he thinks that poor, minority and Mexican children are stupid and they cant learn.

Unless they are moved to "clicky" white neighborhoods and sat next white middle class children.

My Terry, you were up and at it early this morning...reading the Chalkboard at 8:00 this morning? How did you get from Southwest School Road all the way home to your computer so fast? OR did you just phone one of your workerbees to post that? --cause I see you're already back in front of Southwest middle, doing what you do best, urinating on the High Point schools. Man you must be on some strong diuretic.

Mr. Grier,

I have a request: could you steer the board to discuss education from now on at the board meetings? It seems that they only focus on transportation issues and why minority contractors are not hired by GCS.

And I am not the only one who notices. As we watched a school board meeting, my out of state visitor said, "do they ever talk about educating the children."

www.fox8wghp.com

Redistricting backlash

The recent Guilford County Schools redistricting decision is causing quite a shake up in Guilford County, but it's not moving students quite the way the board intended. Homebuilders in Davidson County say they're seeing a lot more interest and buyers from Guilford County. Many of them are families looking to get out of Guilford County schools because of redistricting. Neighborhoods within the city limits of High Point but in Davidson County are getting a lot of attention because a move there would allow families to stay in the city but get into the Davidson County school system.

Questions:

What happens when students have to pass 5 tests required by the state to graduate?

Students aren't passing Albegra I now. Teachers give "extra credit" for homework so grades appear higher. But when these students take the test, many are not passing.

What happens when they hit this wall when it is time to graduate? Do all drop out at once?

According to the HP city workforce study, students who do graduate are not prepared for work. Of students that graduate and go to GTCC, they have to take remedial classes before they can even take college courses.

Sooner or later graduating students who are not prepared for work or college catches up to them.

"That is significant when you consider that since 2000 the number of our students receiveing free and reduced meals has increased from 38 to 50 percent, and our student population has shifted from 48 to 57 percent non-white. In addition, we have seen the number of students with Limited English Proficiency doubled in the last last year".

Mr Grier, isnt this labeling?

Doesn't it contribute to the "self fulfilling prophecy"

Will these children ever suceed while this language is typically used by GCS?

"Dr" Grier, what about this?

About 58 percent of the district's schools met standards on the ABCs of Public Education in the 2004-05 school year. That's down from 66 percent the previous year and far below the 96 percent achieved in 2002-03.

The dropout rate proves a point. If you work on something over several years, progress can and will be made. Weast said there was nothing he could do to reduce the rate. Now we know that is not correct. As some things go up, others go down. That does not mean that we cannot push things back up. We need confidence. I know we can do it. I just wish the BOE would focus on what they can do and quit blaming everyone else for the problems.

What good is the drop out rate decreasing if children that graduate don't have the skills they need when they graduate?

What if they can't read, write, speak with proper grammar or do the simplest math problems without a calculator?

To "SeriousquestionforDr.Grier", you forgot "I can tell the children in AP classes by the color of their skin" (Ray Collier Forum, High Point)

I think I do understand what he meant, but it didn't come out very well.

Dr. Grier,

Who do you think will win the UNC/ Duke game tonight?

What about the trade gap with China?

Do you think the cold weather is over for the year and spring is here to stay?

Does a tree that falls in the woods with nobody there, make a sound?

changing the subject:
i am curious about this state mandate for smith which apparently is requiring gcs to move 300 kids out of that school and into a new facility.

i simply do not remember smith high being labelled such a poor performing school. its got to be better than andrews which is the 2nd lowest performing school in the entire state (vicinity of 7000 schools) and was given state assistance.

it seems that the state would have mandated andrews make more changes than smith. why would the state be tougher on smith which seems to be performing better than andrews, instead of requiring more help for andrews students?

has anyone seen this very specific state mandate for smith? has anyone seen anything published about this mandate? i heard a lot about andrews and the middle college, but absolutely remember nothing being reported about smith.

jennifer, if the n-r has published anything along these lines, or if you have any info, would you please post? many thanks

btw, the question is: how to reach these kids who may drop out of school. idea! maybe gcs should spend millions and millions of dollars on a culinary school and new central office facilities. i think that would be a good way to spend money and help these kids out.

Plain and Simple,,,,,Grier is a Con Artist....

Dear Liesandsmoke,

I understand the upset, (all things considered here), but I want to comment on your statement, "Who is going to flip our hamburgers?" and the other comments about "who is going to wipe Dr. Grier's shoes and load his golf bags" etc...

I just want you and others to be aware, those statements are very hurtful.

Remember, we are talking about human children here, our American children. They have a face and a name and they are real children. It is easy to get distracted by hating Dr. Grier, but this is about the kids. We are really supposed to be focused on what is in the best interest of ALL kids here.

What was the purpose of that statement?

Do you really think it is funny to make such statements? Or that it would hurt Dr. Grier? I think it is hurtful to the kids that you are implying will only aspire to flipping burgers. Do you think it is a good idea for us to continue to create an American "Underclass" that can never rise out of poverty?

The subject of educating all our children is too important to get distracted by personalities and egos. This is not about Dr. Grier, this is about the kids.

We don't need any American children whose only future is to flip burgers or load golf bags. That's a great job for high school or college kids, but no one can support a life that way.

Let's please rise out of our upset and start to deal with the problems here as adults who want the best for all kids.

I know this is frustrating business, but we have to rise above the muck to see the solutions.

And we have to do this together.

and by the way,

I would be remiss if I did not add:

Dear Dr. Grier,

In the way of feedback, when we, as parents and community members, hear you talking about minority students and spouting off all the numbers supporting that they do not succeed like white students, what we HEAR is "I just want to point out once again, that there is a huge difference in these sub-groups and this is not my fault that I cannot seem to figure out how to educate these kids." That is what we hear, and we go crazy!

Dr. Grier, please start to help these kids. They may need different kinds of instruction, they may need different or more help, but whatever it is, we are not currently meeting their needs. And it makes us crazy when you keep spouting off those statistics.

Love,

Terrina

Terrina,

Of course we don’t wish these poor children ill but it is simple. Say the board come up to your "cozy" neighborhood in the north and say they are going to bus your kid to Dudley and send a bus load of Dudley kids to your local school.
Then you organize an army of other parents to speak up against it.
The overwhelming public support is against what they do BUT THEY DO IT ANYWAY.

Then one tends to get a little angry.

DONT PATRONISE ME!!!!!

Now tell me for real, who "IS" going flip my burgers and park and clean Dr Griers Mercedes?

A Nation at Risk
(1983)

If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.

As it stands, we have allowed this to happen
to ourselves.

We have even squandered the gains in student
achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik
challenge.

Moreover, we have dismantled essential support
systems which helped make those gains possible.

We have, in effect, been committing an act of
unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament.

--A Nation At Risk
(1983)

Terrina,

If some people on that School Board cared about children in poverty, why are they putting them on a long bus ride from Parkview 11 miles from their homes to "educate" them? Parents in that community are very upset over this. Two African American board members voted for this.

These children don't have transportation to get to sports, after school activities, etc. What are they going to do if they are sick at school? The Guilford Education Alliance had a list of points to help underachieving or poor students. One was to get them involved in after school clubs, even lower the academic requirements to be in clubs. How can they be in clubs if they don't live near their school? How do they get to sport practice?

I just can't see where redistricting High Point at this time and in the way it was done is doing anything to help "these kids". It has come down from a very good source that this had nothing to do with "eduation". It was to help the right numbers and Central and the real estate values in Emorywood. So how on earth to does this motive help "these kids"? IT DOESN'T.

I think before anyone comes down on these parents whose kids have been redistricted for "diversity" and it is not being done in the rest of the county, you need to look to the school board and Dr. Grier first and see what THEY are doing FIRST for "these kids".

"Do as I say, not as I do" comes to mind.

Southwest parents are good people. They have been wronged. They are angry and rightly so. High Point is sick and tired of being treated different than the rest of the county.

TERRINA:

You have taken the comments from another strand made by the General out of context. They were directed at Grier. I believe there was sarcasm to make a point. Read again. These were not directed at children. They were directed at responsibility to educate these children.

Your last post signed "Love, Terrina" was a bit over the top unless that was sarcasm too. You were very involved with ABC of Guilford County. I thought you were in charge of their PR at one time. We saw signs all over this county that said "SOS SAVE OUR SCHOOLS abc of guiford county" with a web site address. I believe the other side said "New Superintendent and School Board Needed". You were at numerous ABC meetings and spoke many times before the elections. These same elections were against Dot and Kris. At these same meetings yellow and black Grier magnets were given out along with the signs.

When ABC went countywide someone from NW where you live was treasurer of the PAC.

What goes here? You were very involved with ABC. You know Southwest poeple. You were right there with them in their fight. What goes here?

We live in the USA. The home of capitalism. Its not the Soviet Union here.

It might seem a bad question but it is valid. In a capitalist society someone will be unemployed, someone will clean houses, someone will park cars.
Who does it?

Will HS graduates do it? We don't want illegal imigrants either but without them who builds our houses or cleans the offices we work in? Its a similar question.

We dont live in a perfect world. The very society we live in and love drives this.

Jennifer, more news for you. I expect Smith and Andrews are on this list.

I especially like the last paragraph!

A state judge said Friday that if poorly performing high schools continue to founder, he will close them unless the state replaces their principals and forces sweeping reforms. Durham's Hillside and Southern are among the 19 schools in jeopardy.
Wake Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr., who oversees North Carolina's long-running court case on school quality, directed education leaders to crack down on the schools. Manning told the state's two top education officials that he has lost patience.
"Superintendents and principals have run out of room and run out of time," Manning said in a 17-page letter to state Superintendent June Atkinson and Chairman Howard Lee, of the State Board of Education. "The state is clearly and ultimately legally responsible."
Gov. Mike Easley said in a statement that it's up to local school systems to avail themselves of state resources: "The judge's letter makes it clear that he expects local school officials to take advantage of the programs provided by the state to help them."
Manning has been warning state leaders since 2004 that dozens of high schools are falling short of constitutional mandates to give all students adequate educational opportunities. In May, he said several high schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district were committing "academic genocide."
Easley directed the state board to send "turnaround teams" to nearly four dozen high schools during the current school year. Ten Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools were the first to get the extra assistance.
Information was unavailable Friday from the Department of Public Instruction about the more than 30 other schools also slated for help.
"The impact of the teams hasn't been seen yet," said Seth Effron, Easley's deputy press secretary.
Manning's intervention dates to his 2002 ruling in the Leandro lawsuit over school funding. That ruling spelled out what constitutes the "sound basic education" required by the state Supreme Court: a competent, well-trained teacher, an effective principal and sufficient resources.
In his letter Friday, he blamed the low performance of about 44 high schools on poor leadership in the principals' offices, not on a lack of financial support.
"The major problem with these schools lies within the category of school leadership, not money," he told Atkinson and Lee.
Under his latest directive, principals would be replaced in schools where passing rates on state tests remained at 55 percent or less in all of the past five years, including the 2005-06 year.
Those schools also would be required to begin reform plans modeled after the small-school approach promoted by the state's New Schools Project, supported with a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The smaller high schools can be carved from larger ones and are typically oriented to a particular career theme, such as health sciences or technology.
The fate of the 19 schools that have failed for four years running hinges on their performance this year.
Manning said the schools "will not be allowed to open" in the fall without the state board's approval of both the new principal and the plan for redesign.
Gail Heath, chairwoman of the Durham school board, said the district has been making a concerted effort to raise achievement at Hillside and Southern. "The system is working furiously to improve the performance of those students," Heath said.
Manning's action was welcomed by education leaders who have advocated for poor districts.
"The state can't be serious about fixing schools if they can't do what the judge is saying," said Gerry Hancock, a lobbyist for a group representing poor districts. "You would assume that the powers that be would swing into action and avert any crisis in the fall. If that doesn't happen, the state has a very serious problem."
Rep. Doug Yongue, a Democrat from Laurinburg and a House education leader, said he applauded Manning's action.
"Any time you find a successful school system that's doing what they're supposed to be doing, you're going to find competent principals and a competent superintendent," Yongue said.

I am sorry for not being clear. I need to learn to write.

I support Southwest parents and have for the past two years. I believe it is unfair to treat that small part of the county differently than the others.

I also think it is terrible that the BOE has created so much stress for parents who live in HP. It seems every Jan-Feb is "torture HP parents" time... like it has become an annual event. I know for a fact that families in HP have suffered stress disorders in the way of high blood pressure, colitis, hypertension, and anxiety disorders. I know this has contributed to marital strain and some separations.

That might be Too Much Information for some, but that is why I believe the true cost of this is not completely on the table.

And now we will see what it will cost the parents at Parkview.

I agree that this is NOT EVEN CLOSE to what will help struggling students.

I agree with the GEA, there is a long list of things we could be doing for African American students that we are not currently doing. I worked with Latino and African American kids in downtown LA with the Boys and Girls clubs, and we did after school tutoring and mentoring. It was incredibly effective. Kids need to feel connected. Connection is not happening for them at school. The are feeling separate. I think this bussing program will make even more students feel separate vs connected.

I just wanted to convey that the comments about flipping burgers is hurtful to African American kids who do read this blog. It is hurtful.

And I know we are angry with Dr. Grier and the board,(and rightfully so) but we don't want to put the kids in the cross fires. That was my point. Sorry I did not communicate that better.

I also think we cannot afford to continue to have this issue be debated as either helping African American children or supporting white children. I think when we are divided, we are easier to conquer. Educating children today, especially poor children of any race is a tough complicated issue.

I think we will be better off if we join together with communities outside of ours to try to figure this out.

By the way, the African American community is equally upset by MANY of the same issues we discuss here, and The Pulpit Forum just formed a Community group to start to look at ALL the problems in our schools.

They want EVERYONE, all faiths, and all races to come together to do this.

Please check out the yahoo group site and do a search for the name:

Community Educational Alliance

I would love to see some of you out in Chalkboard land participate in the work of these commitees because I know you have already done alot of work on education issues, and we need to get together on all this stuff instead of working in all our little pockets all over the county.

Check it out: Community Educational Alliance

News thank you for sharing. I read that in the News & Observer. Unbelievable!

TERRINA:

Thank you for explaining better but open your eyes. Many know the Guilford Education Alliance are an extension of this current school board. One of their "magic bullets" was 15 children per classroom. How do you propose to accomplish this with the small facilities and current funds we have? Apparently the School Board and Terry Grier are not listening to them either. They had this opportunity at Andrews for smaller classroom ratios. They were told this by many parents. They blew it. They had many middle class parents on board to go to Andrews and volunteer. The doors were shut in their face.

What has the Guilford Education Alliance done for the parents and families of High Point? What have they done to alleviate their stress and turmoil?

I find it laughable when you say the African American leaders are concerned. We hear over and over from white parents who are concerned about ALL children. Yet we have a black school board rep who makes it quite clear she is for her district first then fighting for BLACK children in the county. Who is there to help the white children who are not getting an education? When white children, black children, other children are in a low performing school ALL children suffer academically. There are socioeconomically challenged white children too. Do the black leaders look out for them?

Guilford Education Alliance has a list of items stating cultural diversity or something like that in discipline. How do you accomplish this? If one culture can use bad language, for instance, and this is acceptable to their "culture", should this disrespect be tolerated by teachers? A rule is a rule is a rule. It should be followed by all students. All students across the board should have the same consequences. Our schools are getting more out of control than ever. We need to bring back a strict handbook for all students to follow.

Black leaders of High Point, the NAACP of High Point, and black school board members supported the bogus redistricting of High Point students. They have failed these Parkview children. If this redistricting was so necessary, if diversity was so important, it would be starting at Dudley and Smith.

But now we know the truth on that. See Judge Manning's latest list.

As for black leaders rationalizing that the funds and resources follow the white parents. I guess that may be true. They followed them to private schools and to Davidson County.

Terrina,

We have tried to work together. We have offered solutions that did not involve FORCED busing which has only elevated the the anger and stress problems. No one listened. Hundreds of parents spoke, wrote, telephoned. Solutions were offered for EDUCATION not FORCED bogus busing to "save" the property values in Emorywood.

Has the word "education" been mentioned by the school board members oher than by Darlene Garrett? You hear resources, resources. The parents who have been wronged are leaving. End of story. You can only use people for so long.

Did ya notice that no one at Central is being sent on a bus miles away? Did ya know that was the same way in 1999? dah!!!! Did ya know who put those unnecessary seats at Andrews? Did ya know Central wanted Blairwood since 1999? It certainly was not Anita Sharpe. She told them this in 1999. No one listened.

Mapping Committee in High Point at Emorywood: Let's just bus all of High Point around the town to save our own school.

Politics of the High Point leaders, all of them.
It is not education.

It is High Point politics through and through.

Unbelieveable--

That article that you mentioned is in the Sunday News & Record buried in page B4. That's a serious article that should cause much concern to parents--I'm wondering why it didn't make the front page...

I am trying to understand the HP citizens. If HP Central, Andrews and SW all had high and equal achievement scores, you would not object to some diversity bussing? Is this correct?

Thank you,

Joe, I feel like I am wasting my breath but,
you just dont get it do you?
Yes we would object!

Why would anyone want to be bussed 10 miles down the road under any circumstances?

Terrina,
ref your quote:

"I just wanted to convey that the comments about flipping burgers is hurtful to African American kids who do read this blog. It is hurtful".

WHo said anything about African American kids being the flippers?

Just want to clarify,

THE COMMUNITY Educational Alliance is NOT

The Guilford Education Alliance.

Two different groups.

The Community Educational Alliance was just formed in the last ten days, so maybe since there is confusion, a name change might be in order. (They have already talked about that.)

It is the COMMUNITY EducationAL Alliance.

And it was not my intention to make any HP parents mad at me, but a couple of kids emailed me to say that the postings were talking trash about the kids that are being moved, and the kids took it as talking about the African American kids or the poor kids which are sometimes the same kids.

There are people (and students) that read this site that are too scared to ever post something or respond because they say people get attacked on this site.

Certainly if I say something that does not fit, or I misinterpret something, you do not have to take that in. And I appreciate it when you call me on something if I am wrong or off base. Clarification is always worth the effort.

We are talking about High School. Don't you think they can tolerate a little more distance. They often go to sports events in distant counties. Do you really think it hurts the students? Or do you think you are entitled to convenience?

If I was really callous I would leave my son at Central instead of bringing him back to Southwest. She does quite like it there but relish's the thought of getting up 1/2 an hour later and getting home the same.

But as you said Joe, if I was really smart, staying there he would have a better chance of getting into the college he wants.
Right Joe? Why did you say that Joe?
Are the majority of the other kids at Central dumb?

You said it Joe.

Moral of the story. Nobody is perfect.

People in glass houses should not throw stones. Yet he who is without sin cast the first stone!

Amen.

Sometimes we are inconsistent with ourselves.
Sometimes we know it and sometimes we don't. Hopefully, we learn something as we go along. Pls don't hold me accountable for everything I have ever said. It is not in concrete, it is work under construction.

Best regards,

You do need a name change. It comes up Guilford Education Alliance when you type in "Community Education Alliance Guilford County".

No one has trashed African American kids on this blog site. That is b.s.!

Joe,

HP students and parents want their traditions like everyone else. They want to go to school with the friends they have in their neighborhoods. Black parents in Parkview are equally upset if not more so. A Florence Cowboy does not want to be a Raider and vice versa. Would any ask Dudley, Page or Grimsley to give up YEARS of tradition? Kids who are expert at soccer want the best soccer team. Kids who dreamed of being on the Raiders football team want to be a Raider. Well forget even "Raider" they can't play footbalL if they can't get to practice. This was stolen from them by their own black leaders who made this decision on "what was best for them". Betrayed by their own poeple.

Is this too much to ask. The entire rest of the county gets this so why can't High Point? Correction: Bisons still get to be Bisons and only Bisons. They even have people from other counties 3rd generation Bison who get to go to Central and be a Bison by paying a fee.

When Emorywood is happy, everyone in good ol High Point including ol Central alumni are happy. The war of the North and the South rages on.

Joe,

We are all "works in progress". We keep on trucking. (I hope no one switches our project funds.)

Joe,

I am convinced that you are really just a stalking-horse for Terry Grier. You come out and throw out comments for Grier because he is not courageous enough to do it himself.

Are these parents entitled in their kids? Sure, they are. Terry Grier would like for the kids to be the titled property of the schools to be used as he sees fit to manipulate for his own purposes. That's how many current public school administrators view kids - chattel to be moved as needed. So, these parents will not cede title to their kids to Terry Grier. They shouldn't have to, and you wouldn't either. Parents are taxpayers that pay for the schools, and Terry Grier is a public servant charged with providing their kids with an education. He needs to get on with doing just that or just get on.

Yup, those that want to keep up the tradition by slamming NHP parents and accusing them of all sorts of nasty things are back again.
It takes away from what should be the real focus. They dont realise it but it fits in with TG's plans very nicely.
Lets focus on Education. Put Whites Mill back to SW and PV back to Andrews.
We now need to focus all our efforts on the two worst schools in the county. Smith and Dudley.

Just type in Community EducationAL Alliance but don't put in Guilford County.

It is not "Education" but instead the word is "Educational". Add the "al"

Community Educational Alliance.

And that should get you there. The next big meeting will be March 23, 2006 at 6:30pm at the New Light Missionary Baptist Church. It is located right across the parking lot from Dudley High School. If you go to the parking lot where they park the buses, the church is right across the street.

The name or name change will probably be discussed at the March meeting as well as reports of the committees that have already met.

I apologize to those I offended by
misinterpreting the posts about flipping burgers.

The Southwest parents that I know, care about all kids. I know that to be true from getting to know them over the past two years.

I know there is some level of animosity between the Southwest parents and the Black Leaders in HP. I want to mention, the Black leaders in HP are only the black leaders in HP. The do not speak for black leaders in other areas.

Terrina,,,

In the Society that we live in,,,there will always be a need for minimum wage workers.

Some of these jobs will be filled by citizens that chose not to take their educational opportunities seriously.

Some of these jobs will also be filled by students that were hidden and neglected by dr. Grier and some on our school board who are worried more about statistical Magic rather than educating children in need.

Unfortunately,,,,the high percentage of these kids are Minorities...

Unfortunately,,,,Our superintendent and school board chooses to continue to ABUSE these same Minorities by refusing to properly educate them,,,,instead ,,,,grier & co. choose to try to hide the problems amongst the masses.

Terrina,,Please,,,Don't once again shoot the messenger...

Shame on you dr. grier.

You are right General, Sorry.

Back to the strand subject.

How is this dropout number calculated? Are we to believe that 97% of freshman who start high school finish high school?

It is my understanding that there is much debate state-wide about the way dropout rates are calculated. I have heard a more realistic figure is a 60% graduation rate. How does this differ from a dropout rate?

Jennifer,
How about an in-depth, investigative piece about how these numbers are calculated and if they really stand up to scrutiny?

HPE editorial today "Dropout stats miss key part of the story"

"NC Policy Watch, a public policy organization whose mission is to change the way our elected officials debate importatn issues, claims 'a national report released by the Education Trust finds the actual graduation rate (for NC) is just over 63 percent for ALL STUDENTS, 50 percent for African American students'...if the percentage of ninth graders who don't graduate in four years is calculated properly.

Word is that state education officials will begin reporting dropout percentages and graduation rates via a different system in 2007 that is more in line with most, if not all, of the reporting methods the other 49 states use......

something less than 75% of the students entering 9th grade in high schools in High Point, and probably the remainder of the county as well, gain a diploma after four years, rather than 97% figures given by Guilford would indicate."

"We should be happy tht dropout prevention efforts are making headway. We all should be sad over the fact that the figures reported don't ring true - or even close.

What kind of lessons do such shenanigans give our students?"

Mr. Grier:

Be careful what you wish for.............please read NandR and High Point Enterprise editorials.
You finally got more coverage on your great? success story about drop out rates. I wonder if the people putting numbers together were educated in Guilford Co.

Just by calculating High Point 9th grade enrollment vs High School Graduation on numbers that are public the rate of 9th graders graduating in Guilford County appears to be a touch higher than 2.5 % in fact it would at face appear to be a touch Higher than 25%. Is it possible more 9th through 12th graders relocate ou and school enrollment is declining in the later years. Is it possible the books are being cooked? Or is it just the new math Mr. Grier has introduced into our school system?

I hope we aren't paying a high priced statistician to figure this math...

Maybe if they published the official number of students entering 9th grade and the official number graduating we, the poorly educated public could do better. I wonder why school Board or news and record haven't asked for this?

Maybe the ignorance is bliss statement flies for some, but not when children's futures are at stake.

Joe:

Would you agree to educate me on the real number of dropouts in our schools? Would you agree that a fair approximation would be the number who entered 9th grade less the number who graduated 12th?

Remember, as our school system grows more 9th through twelfth graders would be added, therefore it would skew the system towards a lower dropout rate, but I don't believe that skew number would be more than 2% of whole, and Dr. Griers numbers might be off a tad more.

What do you think? What would you think of the 2 1/2 percent claim if in fact these numbers are more representative? Is it a con job? Is it spam? Maybe I am just off my proverbial rocker?

Garth,

I agree, the reported rates are too low. However they are consistent with prior years. Weast said he could not do much about the dropout rate. Grier proved him wrong. I don't think the BOE or Grier should be given an an oscar, however it is refreshing to see things moving in the right direction. This is much better than SATs which are dead in the water or trending down. Dr. Grier and the the BOE tend to brag a little too much. But I would do it, if I was under such an attack as they have been. This is a new world, it is not only ok to toot your own horn, it is expected of Govermental officials.

Best regards,

Joe,
You're a smart Duke grad (yeah Carolina last Saturday!) You should know that the only thing that changed regarding dropouts between the Weast admin and Grier's was the calculation formula> The raw numbers are quite comparable and track SAT scores. Back in 2000 (or somewhere around there) the state allowed for the "new" calculation formula. REAL numbers, kids that start 9th grade and get tracked as graduates 4 years later are more in the 35% dropout rate> THAT's a BIG difference. BEWARE of the facts, they get in the way of a good story sometimes!

The interpretation of statistics is difficult.
The fact that the percentage of free and reduced lunch students has increased from 38 to 50 could be the result of the substantial number of affluent students who have been enrolled in private schools, schools in other districts, or who are being home schooled. The same statement could explain the percentage of non-white students increasing from 48 to 57 percent. That is, this could be evidence of white flight to private schools, other districts, and home schools. Then the question becomes, why are we losing large numbers of white, affluent students from our schools ? It would be interesting to know the total enrollment in Guilford County in private schools, charter schools, and home schooled students. Anybody know ?

Read the editorial in the High Point Enterprises. It states that most states figure their drop out figures differently than North Carolina, in fact probably 49 other states.

This should change in 2007.