The Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI) for the state of Michigan will begin reporting local dropout and graduation rates under a new system next year.
While the Chelsea and Dexter school districts scored well compared to state averages in both categories, local and state officials believe the new program will provide more accurate figures.
"This new system will follow students through their four years of high school," said Leslee Fritz, communications director for the State Budget Office, which oversees the CEPI.
"It will make it easier to track students and will change how kids are counted," Fritz added. "The new calculations will be based on a four-year program."
The system will look at the number of students who are freshmen, follow them for four years and see how many earn diplomas, Fritz explained.
The CEPI, a department located within the Office of the State Budget, collects and reports performance data on Michigan's K-12 public schools and students.
Initiatives in data collection and reporting facilitate school districts' compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the Michigan Department of Education's accreditation plan, Education YES!
The new program was created by the National Governors Association and will be implemented throughout the country.
Michigan will be the first to introduce it, starting with this year's senior class. The class of 2008 will be the first to have had its graduation and dropout rate tracked for four years.
Every student who enters ninth grade in a public school in Michigan will now be given a Unique Identification Code. This code will help the CEPI track students through their high school years, even if they change districts within the state.
The system will not only monitor which students are on track to graduate, but also those who may require another year or even two to earn their diploma.
Fritz says one of the goals of the new program is to identify potential student dropouts before the figure becomes final.
"There is a whole group of students lost long before their senior year," she said. "There wasn't a long-term view. This new approach will track all four years."
So what was wrong with the way graduation and dropout rates were tracked in the past?
"We only looked at a single year," Fritz said. "We only looked at a school's total number of students who were starting their senior year."
The former way compared the number of students who started 12th grade to the number who graduated at the end of the year.
For example, if 100 students started the year and 95 graduated, five students would be listed as dropouts.
This figure was criticized because it didn't differentiate between students who may have simply moved during the year and those who actually dropped out.
Also, students who switched to home schooling, suffered long-term illnesses or fell behind but were still enrolled were lumped into the dropout rate.
"(The old way) was penalizing districts for having students transfer or falling behind because they got sick, and that wasn't fair," Fritz said.
"And it wasn't accurately tracking what happens to that student."
Fritz said the new identification code would help eliminate a big loophole.
"In the past when a student moved to another district they were given a new ID number and it was difficult to track them," she said.
"Now, when a student moves to another Michigan school district they will keep the same ID number."
Because of the way the data are processed, graduation and dropout rates are delayed almost two full academic years.
Districts file their information with the state twice during a school year, with the large student count taking place in the spring, which includes those who graduate in May and June.
Figures released last month, the latest available, are for the 2005-06 school year.
The CEPI returns the figures to local school districts to verify the results, and they then make any necessary changes.
Chelsea's dropout rate of 2.20 percent and Dexter's 1.64 percent are below the state average of 3.8 percent for 2005-06. Their graduation rates (91.52 percent for Chelsea and 93.49 percent for Dexter) are higher than the state average of 85.7 percent.
Targeting troubled kids
Evelynn Shirk, superintendent of Dexter Community Schools, said there are various ways to calculate dropout rates.
"We do it a little differently than the state does," Shirk said. "If a student moves out of the district and doesn't notify us where they are moving, we don't consider that a dropout. But the state has been figuring that in as a dropout."
Shirk said having students stay in school all four years is an important responsibility of educators, and the high school has implemented programs to address "at-risk students."
"We have a program in place where we look at students who are now sophomores and target those students who might be struggling," Shirk said. "We look at students getting D's and E's and see how we can get their grades up and improve in school."
Shirk said kids with low grades tend to be the ones who drop out. By targeting sophomores, the district can head off the problem.
"By the time they are seniors it might be too late, so we want to address this before it gets to that point," she said. "We want all our students to be successful."
Another area school officials are addressing with regard to keeping students in school is the often difficult transition year between middle school and high school.
"We team up a freshman student with a junior or senior to help make the transition easier and introduce them to high school life and the culture here at Dexter High School," Shirk said.
"We want them to feel welcome and relieve some of the stress that comes with the transition. This way they can focus more on education."
Dexter High School Principal William 'Kit" Moran, said he is focusing on the under-performing general education students with the Leadership & Design team, sponsored by the Washtenaw Intermediate School District.
"We are close to firming up a plan to focus on the students most at risk as defined by those with D's and E's," Moran said.
"To that end, we've created courses titled 'Math/Science Lab' and 'English/Social Studies Lab.' These courses will be open to students with D's and E's and will be offered during the same term as the core class in which they need the support.
"With our move to trimesters that means, for example, that low performing math students will get 70 minutes of math and then 70 minutes of the lab. We think that gives them a better chance of mastering the course content and staying creditworthy."
Chelsea school officials also have been looking at ways to reduce the number of dropouts.
"One of our greatest successes in retaining at-risk students was our alternative high school which existed for 10 years," said Julie A. Deppner, assistant principal at Chelsea High School.
"We closed the doors on the program in the spring of 2006 due to decreasing enrollment and a decrease in state funding. We were unable to staff the program due to the highly qualified required status of No Child Left Behind."
To replace the alternative program, CHS implemented a program called the Academic Learning Lab (ALL).
"It is one hour of a student's schedule that offers students who qualify extra support due to circumstances that make consistent academic achievement difficult," Deppner said.
"The focus of the class is on the development of skills essential for academic success. The class is open to any student who qualifies, is administratively approved and meets the standards for performing each semester in the class."
The ALL is staffed with a certified teacher and a paraprofessional. There are approximately 10 students in the class each hour, which enables the staff to work closely with students and their teachers to monitor their success.
Deppner said another factor in Chelsea's high retention rate is the number of extracurricular opportunities for students, which allow them to feel "connected" at school.
"Our special education staff also works closely with students and parents to help them choose appropriate classes and programs in order to assist them with their academic challenges," Deppner added.
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