• By Roy L. Johnson, M.S. • IDRA Newsletter • October 2007

Roy L. Johnson, M.A.The number of school dropouts reported by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for grades seven through 12 swelled from 18,290 in 2004-05 to 51,841 in 2005-06. The dropout rate rose from 0.9 percent in 2004-05 to 2.6 percent in 2005-06.

In August 2007, TEA released its dropout and school completion report entitled, Secondary School Completion and Dropouts in Texas Public Schools 2005-06. The 78th Legislature in 2003 mandated that TEA compute dropout rates according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) dropout definition.

Using the NCES definition, a dropout is defined as “a student who is enrolled in public school in grades 7-12, does not return to public school the following fall, is not expelled, and does not graduate, receive a General Education Development (GED) certificate, continue school outside the public school system, begin college, or die.”

In order to implement the legislative requirements for the computation of dropout rates, TEA had to make changes in some dates affecting dropout status and some changes in groups of students who had not been considered dropouts previously.

What a difference a dropout definition and calculation method make. When the NCES dropout definition was used, the total number of dropouts reported by TEA increased from 18,290 in 2004-05 to 51,841 in 2005-06 – an increase of 33,551 students or 183 percent. The dropout count was 2.83 times higher in 2005-06 than in 2004-05, and the dropout rate in 2005-06 was 2.89 times higher than in 2004-05.

Of the 51,841 reported dropouts, 3,038 were in grades seven and eight, and 48,803 were in grades nine through 12. The seventh and eighth grade dropout rate was 0.4 percent, while the ninth through 12th grade dropout rate was 3.7 percent.

The annual dropout rates for African American students and Hispanic students were much higher than the rates for White students – the rate for African American students was three times higher, and the rate for Hispanic students was two and a half times higher. The 2005-06 dropout rate for African American students was 3.17 times higher than the 2004-05 rate, and the 2005-06 rate for Hispanic students was 2.5 times higher than the 2004-5 rate.

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Students, Dropouts and Annual Dropout Rates in Texas,
Grades 7-12, by Race-Ethnicity, 1987-88 to 2005-06

School Year Dropouts Students Annual Dropout Rate (%) by Group, Grades 7-12
African American Hispanic White Other Total

1987-88

91,307

1,363,198

8.4

8.8

5.1

6.1

6.7

1988-89

82,325

1,360,115

7.5

8.1

4.5

4.9

6.1

1989-90

70,040

1,361,494

6.7

7.2

3.5

4.3

5.1

1990-91

53,965

1,372,738

4.8

5.6

2.7

3.1

3.9

1991-92

53,420

1,406,838

4.8

5.5

2.5

2.9

3.8

1992-93

43,402

1,533,197

3.6

4.2

1.7

2.0

2.8

1993-94

40,211

1,576,015

3.2

3.9

1.5

1.7

2.6

1994-95

29,918

1,617,522

2.3

2.7

1.2

1.1

1.8

1995-96

29,207

1,662,578

2.3

2.5

1.1

1.1

1.8

1996-97

26,901

1,705,972

2.0

2.3

1.0

0.9

1.6

1997-98

27,550

1,743,139

2.1

2.3

0.9

1.1

1.6

1998-99

27,592

1,773,117

2.3

2.3

0.8

0.9

1.6

1999-00

23,457

1,794,521

1.8

1.9

0.7

0.7

1.3

2000-01

17,563

1,818,940

1.3

1.4

0.5

0.5

1.0

2001-02

16,622

1,849,680

1.3

1.3

0.4

0.5

0.9

2002-03

17,151

1,891,361

1.2

1.4

0.4

0.4

0.9

2003-04

16,434

1,924,717

1.0

1.3

0.4

0.4

0.9

2004-05

18,290

1,954,752

1.2

1.4

0.5

0.4

0.9

2005-06*

51,841

2,016,470

3.8

3.5

1.3

1.1

2.6

*The 2005-06 dropout rate was calculated using the National Center for Education Statistics dropout definition.

Source: Texas Education Agency, Secondary School Completion and Dropouts in Texas Public Schools 2004-05. Texas Education Agency, Secondary School Completion and Dropouts in Texas Public Schools 2005-06.


Roy L. Johnson, M.S., is direct of IDRA Support Services. Comments and questions may be directed to him via e-mail at feedback@idra.org.


[©2007, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the October 2007 IDRA Newsletter by the Intercultural Development Research Association. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]

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