For third straight year, more county kids stay in school

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

For the third consecutive academic year, the high school dropout rate has declined.

About 6 percent of Clark County School District students dropped out in the 2005-06 school year, compared with about 7 percent the previous year, the district reported this week.

The good news cuts across ethnic lines. In 2006 about 7 percent of the district's black students dropped out, compared with nearly 8 percent in 2005. The dropout rate among Hispanic students improved to 8 percent in 2006, from almost 10 percent the previous year.

The improvement parallels an increase in the pass rate on the high school proficiency exam. Superintendent Walt Rulffes says it's not a coincidence.

Last year, retired guidance counselors were brought in for a special project: Call up as many senior class dropouts as could be found and ask them why they left.

Of the 594 students who were reached, nearly half said they had quit because they had been unable to pass the proficiency exam. Another 36 percent of the students quit because they did not have enough course credits. Only three students said they had left school for a job.

"They get frustrated and figure they're never going to pass the test anyway, so they give up," Rulffes said.

For the past three years, the district has been in the midst of a massive campaign to improve proficiency exam pass rates, particularly among students taking the tests for the first time. Schools have set up early morning and afternoon cram sessions, usually run by volunteer teachers, to help students prepare for the exam. At some schools, students who have passed the tests are signing up to tutor their classmates. And students who have not passed the proficiency exam by the end of their junior year are now automatically enrolled in special classes to help them prepare for the next attempt.

"The lower dropout rate is the fruit of all of those efforts," Rulffes said.

The next goal, district officials say, is to identify more quickly students who are more likely to drop out. Studies indicate that 80 percent of high school dropouts were lacking in academic credits by the end of their freshman year, said Karlene McCormick-Lee, the associate superintendent coordinating the district's dropout prevention initiatives. "If we can reach those students early on, we might be able to save some souls," she said.