Drop Out Blog II

School administrators who are reporting school drop-outs in Massachusetts must follow a chart that is provided by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in deciding whether or not a student is, in fact, a drop-out. In most cases this chart allows me and my fellow superintendents the ability to accurately code whether or not a student is in school, some other type of academic program, or has some legitimate reason for not being in school. It really is a simple process – the DESE provides a list of student names and then the Superintendent or another school administrator decides which line on the chart corresponds with each student’s unique situation.

School districts are responsible for reporting data on student drop-out as accurately as possible. At Mahar, it is commonplace for every student on our drop-out list to get a phone call, or a visit from a guidance counselor, adjustment counselor, or administrator. We try to set up meetings with these students, and do whatever we can to get them back in school. In many cases last year Dr. Namin called students at their homes or at their places of employment to gather accurate information on their intentions to return to school and/or talk to them about our new programs that would allow them to earn their diplomas in new and creative ways. Like Dr. Namin, I have involved myself in attempting to get these students back in school.

The steps that we take at Mahar to reconnect our students with their education are also common practice at Mount Wachusett Community College. The Director of the Gateway to College, Mrs. Bibeau engages in the exact same practices that we do in attempts to get students back in school. As I mentioned in my last blog, the students enrolled at the Gateway to College at Mount Wachusett are considered to be students in the Ralph. C. Mahar Regional School District. Therefore, when a student drops out of the Gateway to College – the DESE considers the student to have dropped out of Ralph C. Mahar. So it is pretty clear that the partnership with Mount Wachusett is one that allows for us celebrate together, work together to help our shared students, and feel the same discomfort when these students decide to leave our program.

The single most frustrating of these discomforts that the Gateway to College and the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District share is when one of our students moves away. Believe it or not, if a student moves away – even if it is 150 miles away – and if the student does not enroll in a new school, he or she is coded by the state as a high-school drop-out from our district. We go ahead and enter the code on our report that informs the state that the student transferred to another district in the state, but if the student does not enroll in that district – he or she is a drop-out. This is frustrating because there is almost nothing that we can do for students who are so far away.

Imagine this:

A student moves in to one of our four towns and registers to be a student at Ralph C. Mahar.

He or she gets a schedule and attends classes for two weeks.

One of our counselors notes that this student has not been in school for a few days and calls the student’s home to check in.

The counselor discovers that the student has moved to another town that is 25 miles away.
The student does not enroll in high school in the new town.

After attending Mahar for only two weeks – the student is coded as a drop-out from Ralph C. Mahar.

The drop-out rate is a hot topic in the educational arena and is often reported by the media to our constituents as a number that symbolizes our efficacy as an institution that educates adolescents and teens. Consider that last year five students moved away from our district and did not enroll in the school districts in the communities to which they relocated – and you can see our frustration. We are reaching out to students to get them back to school. We are creating atmospheres to keep them connected to our organization and in some cases creating individual programs for success. The way in which the drop-out rate is reported is really not reflective our work.