SBCSS News and Press Releases

San Bernardino Countywide Dropout Rates on Decline

2010-12-07

SAN BERNARDINO - The California Department of Education today released annual dropout data for the 2008-09 school year. Countywide dropout rates show a decrease from last year.

"While the bottom line for our county is that we showed improvement in terms of a decrease in the rates of dropouts for Grades 9-12 in comparison to data released a year ago, we must remain vigilant in our efforts to greatly reduce this number and graduate more of our students," San Bernardino County Superintendent Gary Thomas said.

The countywide four-year derived dropout rate is 22 percent in comparison to the 2007-08 four-year adjusted derived rate of 22.5 percent. The county's one-year adjusted dropout rate of 5.8 percent shows a .1 percent decrease from last year's rate of 5.9 percent.

"What is heartening to see is that our countywide data is trending in the right direction and this year, bucking the state trend," Thomas said.

In this year's data, there was improvement in the dropout rate for African American students countywide showing a decline of 3 percent, from 31.7 percent last year to 28.7 percent this year. Looking closer at the countywide data, there remains a troubling achievement gap that needs to be addressed, Thomas noted.

This is the third year the state has asked schools and districts to use student level identifiers to report the reasons why students may be leaving their schools. Schools and districts can tailor programs to address those trends and see that more students complete their high school graduations.

"Our office is committed to providing services and programs to districts and school sites that can help them address the issue of dropouts, and help to ensure more students graduate from high school ready for college and productive work," Thomas said.

Among these efforts is the Call to Action - Every One Counts - an initiative of the County Schools office to reduce dropout rates and increase high school graduation rates in San Bernardino County. Superintendent Thomas reached out to business, labor, community and faith-based partners to work with educators on research-based solutions to address the dropout epidemic and the need for higher graduation rates.

"These are two of the most pressing issues in our region," Thomas said.

"In our global economy, reversing the high dropout rates in our county and state needs to be at the top of our agenda for the economic viability of this region," he said. "Otherwise, without a better prepared and better educated workforce, our society will suffer the consequences."