High School Dropout Rates Decline

By KAITLIN KEANE

The dropout rates at many South Shore high schools were lowered during the 2005-2006 school year, according to a state report, with both Stoughton and Abington high schools cutting the percentage of students who left before graduation in half.

Among the other findings in the recent report from the state Department of Education:

White students at Randolph High School had a higher dropout rate than black students, 6.3 percent to 4.7 percent. Hispanic students in Massachusetts public high schools had the highest dropout rate, 8.2 percent, while Asian students had the lowest, 3.1 percent.

The statewide dropout rate for the 2005-2006 school year was 3.3 percent; it was 3.8 percent in 2004-2005. There were 296,511 students enrolled in Massachusetts public high schools in 2005- 2006, 9,910 of whom dropped out that year.

The state percentage of returned dropouts – including students who return to school, graduate or receive their GED – was 22.6 percent.

Randolph and Quincy high schools, which had high rates of dropouts in the past but have improved dramatically in recent years, saw slight changes in their dropout rates in 2005-2006. Randolph High School’s dropped from 5.3 percent in 2004-2005 to 4.8 percent the following school year, or 48 students out of 990. Quincy High School’s rate increased from 3.5 percent to 4.6 percent, or 64 students out of 1,398. Across town at North Quincy High School, the dropout rate was a scant 1.2 percent, also a slight increase from 2004-2005 when it was 0.6 percent.

In the 2003-04 school year, 7.6 percent of students left Quincy High School without graduating, more than double the state average that year.

Quincy High School Principal Frank Santoro said the improvement in recent years is the result of programs aimed at making it easier for at-risk students to stay in school or attend evening classes.

In addition to evening classes, Quincy High School uses the New Start program, which offers additional resources and teacher attention for students who struggle during the first years of high school.

"We’ve taken kids who haven’t been successful while in high school and give them more guidance," Santoro said. "Many of those kids go on to be successful juniors and seniors."

The next initiative will be to target ninth-grade students who struggled academically during eighth grade, helping to ease their transition to high school, he said.

The dropout rate at Abington High School fell to 1.6 percent after hitting 5.1 percent in 2004-2005. Holbrook Junior Senior High School fell from 7.3 to 4.9 percent.

The report also found that boys continue to leave high school more often than girls, 4.3 percent to 3.1 percent. As in previous years, students in special education and from low-income families had higher dropout rates than their classmates.

Kaitlin Keane may be reached at kkeane@ledger.com.

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