SD16 - Report of the Virginia Department of Education on the Study of High School Dropout and Graduation Rates in the Commonwealth


Executive Summary:
Joint resolution 329 (SJR 329)1 from the 2007 General Assembly Session required the Virginia Board of Education (BOE) to study high school dropout and graduation rates in the Commonwealth. The legislation required the Board of Education to:

• Evaluate the relevancy of the current process and procedures for defining, counting, and reporting school dropout statistics and consider the need for revisions in such process and procedures and compliance by school divisions;
• Determine the number of students who dropped out of school before the seventh grade and the reasons therefor and the number of students who graduated annually, for school years 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006;
• Ascertain whether, by whom, and the manner in which students at risk of dropping out are counseled to remain in school;
• Identify local school division initiatives and efforts to retain and retrieve students at risk of dropping out, particularly student populations with low high school graduation rates; and
• Recommend such policy, statutory, fiscal, or regulatory changes as the Board may deem necessary to increase the high school graduation rates, particularly among student populations with high dropout rates.

To meet the requirements of the study, the BOE and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE):

• Reviewed relevant education and scientific literature;
• Reviewed VDOE current policies;
• Collected and analyzed data from the VDOE Education Information Management System (EIMS); and
• Conducted a survey of local school divisions to gather information about initiatives and efforts to retain and retrieve students at risk of dropping out of school, including counseling services. Eighty-five (85) percent of Virginia’s 132 school divisions responded to the survey.

Results of the study showed that:

• VDOE’s definition of a student dropout is consistent with the definition developed by the National Center for Education Statistics.
• Historically, VDOE has calculated an annual (or event) dropout rate for students in grades 7-12. The rate reflects the number of students who drop out of school in a given year.
• Experts have recommended that state departments of education report cohort dropout rates for each group of students who enter ninth grade. This rate requires at-least four years of student-level data, which will be available for the first time in the fall of 2008.
• Based on two years of available data, less than one percent of all students enrolled in grades K-6 voluntarily withdraw from school.
• In grades 7-12, the annual dropout rate dropped from 2.2 percent in the 2002-2003 to 1.9 percent in the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years.
• All school divisions reported that counseling is available to students at risk of dropping out of middle and high school; 97 percent of responding divisions provide counseling to at-risk elementary school students.
• Students are counseled by a variety of professionals, including school counselors, principals, assistant principals, school psychologists, and social workers.
• School divisions offer a wide variety of programs and services to students at-risk of dropping out and those who drop out and return to school. The services described are consistent with those that research suggests can support students and help more students complete high school.
• More than half of school divisions responding to VDOE’s survey reported that they provide specific support services to student populations considered to be at high risk of dropping out of school. Several divisions also reported that all of their services are available to all students.

Based on these findings, the Board of Education recommends the following:

1. Beginning in 2008, the Virginia Department of Education should report both the annual and cohort dropout rates.
a. The annual rate should be reported as the rate of student dropouts in grades 7-12 and grades 9-12 to provide a more complete picture of high school dropouts. The primary purpose of continuing to report the annual dropout rate is to facilitate a comparison with previous years’ data.
b. The cohort rate should provide information on the four-year, five-year, and six-year dropout rates.

2. Dropout rates should be published in the context of other information, including
a. Graduation rates;
b. Completion rates that include graduates and students who earn alternative completion credentials (e.g., General Education Development certificate (GED); and
c. A ‘remain in school’ rate for years 5 and 6.

3. The Board of Education should support initiatives that encourage schools and school divisions to verify the status of students who exit Virginia public schools.

4. The Department of Education should continue to partner with other stakeholders, such as the Department of Juvenile Justice, to develop strategies for dropout prevention, and provide training opportunities to school staff and others who work to prevent or recover dropouts.

5. The General Assembly should continue to support programs targeted at increasing the graduation rate, such as Project Graduation.

6. The BOE should encourage school divisions to provide professional development related to dropout prevention and recovery to help teachers and other professionals who work with at-risk students provide stronger support services.