The Drop out Rate and Preparation for College and Career

By Gary D. Yee

It takes much more to become a self sufficient adult today than when I was in high school, fifty years ago. Most careers now require post secondary preparation, whether for skill or for profession. Dropping out limits the ability to become independent, and even creates conditions for being a liability that we must all pay for. But how can we really make a difference here, when this is a national problem?

Many people do not know that every high schooler now must pass a basic examination (CAHSEE) in order to graduate, even if they have the requisite number of units. While the test is calibrated at a relative low level (ninth grade material), it is a very high stakes test, and if material is not presented in their classes, or students do not understand it, they cannot pass, they get discouraged, and they drop out.

Similarly, students must pass a set of high level "college prep" classes in order to graduate ready for four year colleges. This set, known as "A-G" is much more rigorous than what most of us took in the sixties and seventies. Finally, nearly every college, including community colleges, require a placement test for many courses; even student who pass calculus in high school sometimes must enroll in remedial classes when they get to college; this delay in starting "real" college classes often discourages new college students, and they drop out in their freshman year.

We can make a difference by doing three things: First, make sure that every class is taught to the content standards required for graduation. That means, not relying on the textbbook, but really teaching for understanding. this often means contextualizing the content to real world situations; re-teaching difficult concepts, and differentiating instruction based on the learning styles and prior knowledge of students.

Second, provide multiple pathways to college and career readiness. After retirement from community college, I was asked to consult with the Career Ladders Project, and part of that work involves providing meaningful and rigorous pathways for young adults into high paying, middle skill careers, by linking vocational classes with academic cores subjects. The vocational emphasis give students reasons for learning more abstract concepts, and connects them to ideas about their future, without pigeonholing them into remedial, or dead-end courses. I am so fortunate to have served in leadership capacities in the community college system, so that I could better understand the real options that our students deserve to be introduced to.

Third, provide a clear instructional program for students which monitors their progress through the grades, and provides them with avenues to catch up if they are behind, to re-learn if they forget, and to have models to be helped, and opportunities to help. This kind of educational planning is part of the AVID program, which I endorse, but various schools also employ a homegrown version of this educational planning, for example, the Media Academy at Fremont High School.

These three strategies, are all part of our strategic framework "Thriving Students," and in this next term, I intend to make sure that it is well implemented in all our high schools!