Kids Count shows drop in Nevada dropout numbers

Thursday, May 23, 2002 | 9:19 a.m.

Nevada has the nation's second-highest dropout rate among students age 16-19, according to an annual national survey that local school officials have long said is flawed.

The 13th annual national Kids Count report, using data from 1999, says Nevada ranks 35th among states for the well-being of children. The survey also found that since 1990, a significantly fewer number of teens have died from accidents, suicides or homicides.

Kids Count says Nevada's dropout rate for 1999 was 16 percent, down from its nation-leading rate of 17.8 percent in 1998 but up a percentage point from 1990. The Nevada Department of Education, however, says the dropout rate in 1999 was 6.9 percent in Clark County and 7.8 percent statewide.

The state and Kids Count use different statistical methods for determining dropout rates. Nevada uses the "event method," which counts students enrolled in the system who drop out. Kids Count uses the "status method," counting 16- to 19-year-olds who should be in the school system but do not enroll.

"There is nothing wrong with weak numbers -- the condemnation comes when you don't try to address the issues with substantive programs," said Keith Schwer of the UNLV Center for Business and Economic Research.

"This report is not a condemnation of the school system locally. It just demonstrates that, regardless of what method is used to determine the statistics, there is a problem that cannot be ignored. Clark County has addressed the problem with programs like the Horizon Schools."

Local education officials have long been aware of the high dropout rate and have addressed the problem with programs like one at Las Vegas High that provides job training and lets students work as long as they remain in school, Pat Nelson, spokeswoman for the Clark County School District, said.

"We were not taken by surprise by the Kids Count statistics," Nelson said. "But we are seeing a decrease in dropouts. For the 2000-01 school year our dropout rate was 5.7 percent."

School officials have long maintained that Kids Count's method is not fair to Nevada because thousands of teenagers leave schools in other states and come to Las Vegas to work in high-paying, entry-level jobs in hotels and construction instead of enrolling in high schools here.

By the same token, the schools in the states from which the kids actually dropped out benefit because those children are no longer in their state.

Earlier this year the Nevada Department of Education announced that the statewide dropout rate for 2000-01 was the lowest in 12 years.

Arizona led the nation in high school dropouts at 17 percent, Kids Count said.

The good news from Kids Count, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation designed to provide policy-makers and others with benchmarks of child well-being, was that Nevada improved in seven of the 10 categories for which the survey collects statistics.

One of the more significant findings was that death rates by accident, suicide or homicide for 15- to 19-year-olds dipped from 98 per 100,000 in 1990 to 58 per 100,000 in 1999. Still, the state's rate was worse than the 1999 national average of 53 per 100,000, Kids Count said.