Building Partnerships for Youth Transitions: Planting the Seeds for Our Youth

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Building Partnerships for Youth
TransitionsPlanting the Seeds for Our Youth

• Sheril R. Smith, Ph.D., Director
• Office of Dropout Prevention
• Mississippi Department of Education

October 28, 2008
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Key Issues for Students with Disabilities

• A disproportionate number of students with
  disabilities drop out of high school.
• To address dropout prevention effectively,
  schools and states must first reliably assess the
  true magnitude of the dropout problem.
• The Individuals with Disabilities Education
  Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004) makes it
  incumbent upon states to track the percentage of
  students with disabilities who drop out compared
  with the percentage of their nondisabled peers
  who drop out.
• Under the law, states must identify improved
  dropout rate targets and oversee the performance
  of each local educational agency (LEA) toward
  meeting this goal
• The U.S. Office of Special Education Programs
  (OSEP) uses these data to evaluate a states
  performance in the area of dropout prevention.

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Percent of youth with IEPs dropping out of high
school

• In the Annual Performance Reports (APR), each
  state
• reports its dropout rate for special education
  students
• compares its current dropout rate with the state
  target rate for the 2006-07 school year
• discusses reasons for its progress or slippage
  with respect to the target rate
• describes any improvement activities it has
  undertaken during the year

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State Dropout Prevention Goals

• Special Education Goal - The SY 2006-2007 dropout
  rate for SWD will decrease by 0.5 from 13.24 to
  12.74.
• Overall Dropout Prevention Goal reduce the
  statewide dropout rate to 13 by 2012-2013

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Mississippis Dropout Rates

• SPED Rate - 17.88 - Event Rate
• Overall State Rate - 15.9 - Cohort Rate

SPED dropouts 14 yrs. old and up Total SPED
students who exited with regular diplomas
special diplomas reached maximum age died
dropouts
Dropouts who entered high school as 1st time
9th graders in 2003 Students who entered high
school as 1st time 9th graders is 2003
transfers in transfers out
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State Graduation Goals

• Special Education Goal - Increase SY
  2006-2007 graduation of SWD with a regular
  diploma by 0.5 from 22.37 to 22.87.
• Overall Graduation Goal Increase the graduation
  rate to 85 by 2018-2019

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Mississippis Graduation Rates

• SPED Rate 22.87 - Event Rate
• Overall State Rate - 15.9 - Cohort Rate

SPED students who graduated with a regular high
school diploma Total SPED students exiting
with regular diplomas special diplomas
reached maximum age died dropouts
4-year regular diploma students who entered
high school as 1st time 9th graders in 2003 (
4-year cohort 1st time 9th graders in 2003)
transfers out special education students who
take longer to complete
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National Percentage of Students with Disabilities
Who Dropped out of School in 2001-2002
Source U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
Office of Special Education Programs. (2006,
April). 26th Annual (2004) Report to Congress on
the Implementation of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, Vol. 1. Washington,
DC Author.
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Students, Ages 14 and Older, with Disabilities
Who Dropped Out by Race / Ethnicity
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The Challenge

• Students with disabilities drop out of school at
  significantly higher rates than their peers who
  do not have disabilities.
• In the 200102 school year, only 51 percent of
  students with disabilities exited school with a
  standard diploma.
• Costs to individuals with disabilities who do not
  complete high school
• Unemployment
• Underemployment
• Higher rates of incarceration - overall, at least
  one-third of students with disabilities who drop
  out of high school have spent a night in jail
  this rate is three times that of students with
  disabilities who have completed high school.
• Lost tax revenues
• Welfare expenditures

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The Major Issues

• Students Reasons for dropping out of school
• Classes were not interesting 47
• Missed too many days and could
• not catch up 43
• Spent time with people who were
• not interested in school 42
• Had too much freedom and not
• enough rules in my life 38
• Was failing in school 35

(The Silent Epidemic Perspective of High School
Dropouts, 2006)
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The Major Issues

• Students Reasons for Staying In School
• Supportive family
• Involvement with committed adult
• Persevering attitude
• Respectful relationship with teachers
• Satisfaction with learning experiences
• Relevant curriculum
• Fair discipline policies

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2007-08 Student EnrollmentMississippi
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Dropout / Graduation Data by Gender
RaceGraduating Class of 2007 - State
0.7
2.4
5.0
3.0
3.0
1.7
2.2
1.8
0.6
1.7
represents percentage point change over previous
cohort
Source Mississippi Department of Education,
Office of Research and Statistics
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MISSISSIPPI NOTESTHE IMPACT OF DROPOUTS

• ACADEMIC
• Approximately one school bus full of students
  drop out of school each day in Mississippi
  (approximately 13,000 per year).
• The lack of basic academic skills cost employers
  and colleges 116 million.

• ECONOMIC
• The estimated lost lifetime earnings in MS for
  one class of dropouts totals over 4 billion.
• More than 1.5 billion would be added to the
  states economy by 2020 if students of color
  graduated at the same rate as white students.

• HEALTH CARE
• MS would save more than 121 million in health
  care costs over the course of the lifetime of
  each class of drop outs.
• If all students had graduated from HS the state
  would see a savings of 117 million annually from
  Medicaid.

• CRIME
• The states economy would
• see a combination of savings and revenue of more
  than 93 million in reduced crime spending and
  increased earnings each year if the male high
  school graduation rate increased by just 5.

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Brief Overview of the State Plan

• Three Overarching Goals
• Increase the graduation rate to 85 by 2018-19.
  Current graduation rate 73.8
• Decrease the dropout rate by 50 by 2012-13.
  Current dropout rate 15.9
• Decrease the truancy rate by 50 by 2012-13.
  Current truancy rate 31.8

Based on the SY0304G09 4-Year Cohort
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Destination Graduation Teen Summit

• On January 15, 2008, over 1,100 high school
  students and leaders, from 247 high schools came
  to Jackson to discuss issues related to dropout
  prevention work.
• On February 27, 2008, over 2,000 community,
  business and school leaders, representing each
  school district around the state attended the
  adult summit to further the discussion on dropout
  prevention.

Destination Graduation Adult Summit
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www.mde.k12.ms.us/dropout_prevention

• www.onthebus.ms

Sheril R. Smith, Ph.D., Director Office of
Dropout Prevention 601.359.3177 srsmith_at_mde.k12.ms
.us