[Stardust]

FRANKFORT — With Kentucky’s student dropout rate hovering around 3 percent, Gov. Steve Beshear, lawmakers and education officials all expect raising the dropout age to remain a key issue in the 2012 legislative session.

Beshear – in his inaugural address this month – called for dropping out of school to become an “obsolete concept” in Kentucky, and lawmakers from both parties are sponsoring bills next year to increase the dropout age to 18.

The state Board of Education has also pointed to the dropout rate as its top legislative priority in 2012.

But efforts to raise the age have drawn criticism in the past, and the issue could be one of the most debated topics in a legislative agenda that also includes charter schools and improving college performance.

“This bill has been introduced now three times and has passed the House three times with overwhelming bipartisan support,” Beshear said Wednesday. “I’m hopeful that during this session it will get a vote in the Senate.”

According to the Kentucky Department of Education, the statewide dropout rate edged up from 2.89 percent in 2009 to 3.19 percent in 2010, marking the eighth consecutive year the rate has lingered in the 3 percent range. About 6,200 students from a total enrollment of 195,000 quit school between the ninth and 12th grades.

State law allows a student to quit school at age 16 after receiving a parent’s permission and completing a conference with the school principal.

Legislators have debated raising the age for years, but measures to do so have stalled in the past two sessions.

Supporters say a higher age requirement coupled with alternative education programs would bring down the dropout rate, while critics argue that forcing disinterested teenagers to stay in school only causes more classroom disruption.

Rep. Jeff Greer, a Brandenburg Democrat who has sponsored bills to raise the age in the past, said he is working with the governor’s office and Education Commissioner Terry Holliday to fine-tune previous proposals in hopes of gaining more support in 2012.

http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/201.../301020025

[vundy33]

It's about damn time!

[SKINNYPIG]

I'll be a critic. Schools and classrooms will have to deal with uninterested students for two more years. If a sixteen year old wants to drop out, I doubt his mind changes when he's 18. A lot of legislation for nothing.

[Hoot Gibson]

I have a very difficult time believing that only 3 percent of Kentucky students drop out of school. I find it equally hard to believe that the 3 percenters will graduate literate as the result of legislation forcing them to show up at school so that politicians can claim responsibility for "improving" education.

According to a study titled Public School Graduates and Dropouts From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2007–08 from the US Department of Education, Kentucky's high school graduation rate was only 76.4 percent in 2007-2008. Something does not add up here. Somebody is either lying or playing some strange games with statistics.

I don't believe that Kentucky's dropout rate dropped from 23.6 percent to under 3 percent between 2008 and 2009. Do the missing 20 percent just loiter around school without collecting diplomas? Where are the schools hiding them?

[vundy33]

I thought you had to be 17 to drop out of school, and that was with a parent's permission? I'd keep it at that.

[RunItUpTheGut]

I to agree it shouldnt go to 18.
The state saves a lot of money with drop outs every year that are literally just taking up space. And i mean that in the most positive way.
Dont forget though, that kids who drop out of school must face consequences, one i can think of the top of my head is the fact that you cant get your liscense until your 18 if you drop out.

[vundy33]

I dropped out when I was 17, but went back to school. Quit two months before graduation and got my GED pretty much so I could join the Army sooner..

I was stupid, lol.

[nky]

I have a very difficult time believing that only 3 percent of Kentucky students drop out of school. I find it equally hard to believe that the 3 percenters will graduate literate as the result of legislation forcing them to show up at school so that politicians can claim responsibility for "improving" education.

According to a study titled Public School Graduates and Dropouts From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2007–08 from the US Department of Education, Kentucky's high school graduation rate was only 76.4 percent in 2007-2008. Something does not add up here. Somebody is either lying or playing some strange games with statistics.

I don't believe that Kentucky's dropout rate dropped from 23.6 percent to under 3 percent between 2008 and 2009. Do the missing 20 percent just loiter around school without collecting diplomas? Where are the schools hiding them?

believe it or not high school graduation rate and drop out rates are two different stats

high school graduation rate for schools are based on total number of Seniors in a school divided by the number of Freshman 4 years earlier. Doesn't matter where those students went(moved, transferred, went to home schooling, dropped out, even if they died) So if a high school had 200 students enrolled their Freshman year and that class graduated with 150 they would have a graduation rate of 75%.

Drop outs are the true individual students who well..... dropped out after going though the process.

[LWC]

^Thanks for clearing that up.

I say raise the age to 17 with a parents permission, and 18 without it. If a student is 18 and can drop out on their own, chances are they are in their senior year anyway. I remember a student that I graduated with that dropped out 3 weeks before graduation. Really? 3 weeks? I told the guy, "Just stop coming to school until they basically force you to come. Have an adult friend added to your pick-up-list, to come and check you out of school when you want to leave after that." There are so many ways to get around it without dropping out. No harming offense meant to anyone that drops out, but 3 weeks? Sheesh!

[Stardust]

I dropped out when I was 17, but went back to school. Quit two months before graduation and got my GED pretty much so I could join the Army sooner..

I was stupid, lol.

Still are....:biggrin:

[Hoot Gibson]

believe it or not high school graduation rate and drop out rates are two different stats

high school graduation rate for schools are based on total number of Seniors in a school divided by the number of Freshman 4 years earlier. Doesn't matter where those students went(moved, transferred, went to home schooling, dropped out, even if they died) So if a high school had 200 students enrolled their Freshman year and that class graduated with 150 they would have a graduation rate of 75%.

Drop outs are the true individual students who well..... dropped out after going though the process.

I still have a very hard time believing that the drop out rate in Kentucky is <3 percent. In many parts of Kentucky, including the eastern part of the state, people are much less transient than in other parts of the country. Students may move quite often between adjoining counties but longer moves are much less common. The difference in size between the freshmen class and the number of graduates in a given year in eastern Kentucky is normally much, much more than 3 percent. I know that numbers don't lie but government statistics often do.

[WideRight05]

My opinions on this are mixed. I really didn't mind the rule about the dropout age being 16. This is only my personal opinion, but I don't value high school education too much. I did a study on this in 2007, and the statistics I came up with were (around these numbers) that about 60% of time spend in American schools is wasted, usually with free time, etc. in class. You compare that to Japan, where students spend close to 98% of class time on studies and 3 - 4 hours per night of homework, which education would you value more?

You learn some in high school, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't have dropped out just for the social experience along. Prom, all that stuff, honestly, I value more than the education itself. And I promise I'm not some slacker, lol, I had a 3.7 in college and graduated with honors (and a 3.6 in high school). But I think if a kid wants to drop out...it should be his choice. Education and the real world, as I have come to find out, are two different things. I have mentioned this in another thread about college education, but on my current job, the things that have helped me most are the skills I gained leading organizations in college and on my internships. The classroom work, from both college and high school, I value very little.

Some of the most successful people are high school dropouts. My father, for one, dropped out (although sadly he didn't have a choice at the time) and did excellent for what he had to work with. I think of the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad when I think of this. Read that, and it may influence your opinion some on this. It's an interesting book.

Sorry for my rant that probably steered "wide right" of the topic. I'm also way too tired to edit this so there's probably a gramattical error or two.