Friday, May 25, 2007

Fayette County sees good news in new dropout data

The rates of students dropping out of high school are at a three-year low in the Fayette County Public Schools. And national tests designed to predict student success in high school and college show that Fayette County Public School students are outperforming the national and state averages.

“Based on these results, if we were looking into a crystal ball I would say the work that we’ve been doing is beginning to pay off and we’re seeing progress,” said Fayette County Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman.”

The release of data, which is the first round of results from the Commonwealth Accountability and Testing System to be made public by the Kentucky Department of Education, included the results of two tests taken for the first time last fall by students in Kentucky. Also included are the non-academic indicators of success used to determine how schools are doing, such as attendance rates, retention rates and high school drop out rates.

The data was good news all around for Fayette County Public Schools. Among the highlights:
High school drop out rates for the district fell to 3.74 percent – a three year best for Fayette County. (Changes in the calculations of dropout rates make comparisons further back than three years invalid.)

Dropout rates improved at all but one high school.

Dropout rates posted by four of five area high schools are at a three year best.

Eighth-graders taking a national high school readiness test for the first time posted scores significantly above the national average in English, reading, science and the overall score. Scores were .1 below the national average in math.

High school sophomores taking a national college readiness test for the first time posted scores significantly above the national average in math, reading, science and the overall score. Scores were .1 below the national average in English.

Seven area middle schools posted scores above the national average.

Four area high schools posted scores above the national average.

This from FCPS.

And this from the Courier-Journal.
Overall, the state high school dropout rate last year was 3.3 percent -- representing 6,329 students. The year before, 3.5 percent dropped out and 3.4 percent dropped out during the 2003-2004 school year.

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