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BY BETH QUIMBY
MaineToday Media, Inc. 03/30/2008

MaineToday Media, Inc.

Maine high schoolers are dropping out in higher numbers than previously thought, according to the first new statistics to be made available since the state changed the way it counted dropouts.

High schools reported 2.2 percent of students -- or 1,839 of the 68,158 students enrolled in grades 9-12 -- dropped out during the 2004-2005 school year, compared to the 3.9 percent national average.

Using the new counting method the following year, Maine's dropout rate doubled. Some 5.4 percent -- 3,337 of the 61,593 students enrolled in the state's public high schools during 2005-2006 -- dropped out, according to the latest figures reported by the state Department of Education.

The jump is due to a new uniform reporting system enacted by the state that requires school districts to count as dropouts all students who leave school but go on to receive a degree through adult education.

Some educators are hailing the new system as the most accurate accounting to date of Maine dropouts -- they hope the statistics will focus attention on the dropout problem.

But others call it a one-size-fits-all system that fails to take into account differences in students' life circumstances or learning styles that make it impossible for some students to succeed in traditional, four-year high schools.

"We really prided ourselves on being able to transfer (students to an alternative program) and they would still get a Westbrook High School diploma," but now those diplomas count as dropouts, said Stan Sawyer, superintendent in Westbrook, where the high school dropout rate more than doubled to 8 percent under the new accounting.

New tracking system

The new reporting requirements are part of the state's move to standardize the way school districts report information and comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which requires states to report high school graduation and dropout rates.

Prior to the change, school districts in Maine used a variety of methods to calculate their dropout and graduation rates. Some districts did not count students as dropouts if they left before graduation yet went on to receive their diplomas through adult education programs. Other districts did not include as dropouts students who passed their general-equivalency diploma tests.

Now Maine, like many other states, has switched to an information management system that allows it to track individual students as they move from school to school.

Under the new system, school districts must count as dropouts all students who leave the school system without graduating or enrolling in another district. This includes students who switch over to adult education programs or obtain GED certificates.

Maine school districts can expect to see their graduation rates change as well in two years. That is when the new unified reporting system will have tracked students through four years of high school.

It is widely expected that the 84 percent graduation rate Maine now claims, will drop closer to 74 percent and many individual school districts will see similar decreases.

Maine and other states have been using close to a dozen different federally approved formulas to calculate their graduation rates, which several studies have found to be flawed. Maine and a number of other states are voluntarily moving toward a uniform formula created by the National Governor's Association. U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has suggested she may require all states to use a single federal formula in the future.

Seeking a true record

With the first of the uniformly-reported dropout data now available, many school districts are seeing their rates more than triple. Wiscasset's rate jumped from 1.68 percent in 2004-2005 to 9.3 percent in 2005-2006. Waterville saw its rate climb from 1.5 percent to 12.4 percent. Bonny Eagle High School in Standish saw its rate increase from 2 percent to 3.28 percent.

Other schools saw improvements. Deering High School in Portland, which previously had the sixth-highest dropout rate in the state - decreased from 7.15 percent to 5.38 percent, just under the state average 5.4 percent.

State education officials say the system is finally giving them a more accurate picture of what is happening to Maine students in public high schools. The state dropout rate does not include private high schools.

"This is an attempt to get a true record of students who graduate from high school with a regular diploma," said Jacqueline Soychak, learning systems team leader at the Maine Department of Education.

The new system is frustrating to some educators. Deborah Mitchell, principal of Massabesic High School in Waterboro where 90 of the school's 1,150 students left school in 2005-2006 for a rate of 7.8 percent, said she does not regard those students as dropouts.

"I have to recognize there are kids who have a life outside of school that doesn't always mesh with my goals for them," she said. Craig King, principal of Mount Ararat High School in Topsham said the new reporting procedures do not reflect the efforts school districts make to work with students who do drop out.

At Mount Ararat, which saw its dropout rate increase from 3.6 to 5.4 percent under the new system, guidance counselors will personally escort a student who has dropped out to register for courses through adult education programs.

Some educators view the new figures with skepticism. Deering Principal Ken Kunin said he is not cheering his school's improved ranking - there are glitches in the state's system, he said. For example, the system kept rejecting Portland information because many students have the same or very similar names. So, he said, he is not paying much attention to the state numbers. Instead, he said, his staff pays attention to students at risk for dropping out.

But Richard Bergeron, school enrollment specialist at the Department of Education, said the data is accurate for all school districts except Cape Elizabeth, which never reported its dropout data. As a result, Cape Elizabeth, which had a 0.34 percent dropout rate the year before, appears to have a 26 percent rate on the new ranking list, Bergeron said. Cape Elizabeth School Superintendent Alan Hawkins said will ask the state to revise the ranking list.

Peter Kahl, principal of Morse High School in Bath, said the 9.3 percent drop out rate reported for 2005-2006, is much more accurate than the 6 percent rate reported the year before.

He believes it will help the community focus on efforts to keep students from leaving Morse. Some students leave the school to earn their GEDs so they can look for work in the lobster industry or at Bath Iron Works.

He said the more accurate rate will add a sense of urgency to adopting the recommendations made earlier this year by a committee created to improve the school's drop out rate.

Kate Rotroff, director of Gorham Adult Education, said the new reporting system will no longer allow communities to sweep their dropout rates under the rug. Under the new system Gorham High School saw its rate double to 2.4 percent.

She said districts will feel pressure to do more for students who are not succeeding in high school.

"It is simply giving a more accurate picture of students," she said.

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