1 in 10 High Schools are Drop Out Factories

[Debi]

This story was posted on Yahoo! regarding the high percentages of students dropping out of high school.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071029/ap_on_re_us/dropout_factories

One part of the story got me thinking in regards to special education of those with disabilities. Probably not realistic, but bare with me for a minute. In the story it says the renewal of NCLB will put emphasis on graduation rates by giving more money to schools with higher graduation rates:

Make sure schools report their graduation rates by racial, ethnic, and other subgroups and are judged on those results. That's to ensure that schools aren't just graduating white students in high numbers, but also are working to ensure that minority students get diplomas.

So will or will not disabled students in the state of TN, who are excluded from NCLB in schools where there are less than 45 students with IEPs, be counted as a subgroup?

Here's where you have to work with me. Suppose that the federal government tells schools that for every student who graduates with a regular ed diploma they get a $100,000 bonus per student. Would this change the number of sped students receiving a regular ed diploma? Suppose the bonus would be $500,000? Even more? If you're saying that graduation rates of sped students would increase, then what you're saying is children with disabilities are able to achieve higher than we're being told their able to achieve. As it is now the mantra is, "Well, that kid has autism...that kid's got Down Syndrome...that kid only has a 60 IQ, they're all too stupid to be educated."

So which is it? Are kids with disabilities too stupid or are school systems throwing them aside because they aren't valuable enough to warrant the effort?

And for those of you who would argue it would be because of funding, please give specific examples. In other words, if you tell me it would cost $50,000 to provide 30hr ABA weeks, I'll be able to show you a very cost-effective alternative to your claim, which means we are able to do it now, we just collectively as a community choose not to.

[Cathy McCaughan]

Drop-outs are a serious problem for all of Knoxville's high schools, regardless of labels. No matter how much teachers do, some students are just not going to stay in school. NCLB needs to allow GEDs within a limited time frame after the student decides to leave school.

One of the side effects of the recent rezoning was that students from schools with high drop-out rates have been sent to higher performing schools. This will create the illusion of better scores at some schools while making an insignificant drop in the rates of other schools. The schools aren't doing better or worse. The system is just playing with numbers. Beyond those numbers are real live human beings who are going to be lost in the system.

We can do better than this. We have got to stop obsessing over test scores and focus on teaching children. If we focus on the students, the test scores will follow.