Dropout Rates In The United States 2000

This report is the 13th in a series that focuses on high school dropout and completion rates, presenting data on 2000 rates and including time series data on high school dropout and completion rates for 1972-00. In addition to extending time series data reported in earlier years, this report examines the characteristics of high school dropouts and high school completers in 2000. It shows that while progress was made during the 1970s and 1980s in reducing high school dropout rates and increasing high school completion rates, these rates remained comparatively stable during the 1990s. Data are presented on event and status dropout rates and high school completion rates, with statistics on income, race/ethnicity, age and sex, and region and state. Overall, in October 2000, 5 out of every 100 youths enrolled in high school in October 1999 had dropped out. They accounted for approximately one-half million of the 10 million people age 15-14 years enrolled in high school in the previous October. Four appendices, which comprise half of the report, feature standard error tables for text tables, tables in support of figures, supplemental tables, and technical notes. (Contains 27 tables and 6 figures.) (SM)

The role played by testing in the nation's public school system has been increasing steadily-and growing more complicated-for more than 20 years. The Committee on Educational Excellence and Testing Equity (CEETE) was formed to monitor the effects of education reform, particularly testing, on students at risk for academic failure because of poverty, lack of proficiency in English, disability, or membership in population subgroups that have been educationally disadvantaged. The committee recognizes the important potential benefits of standards-based reforms and of test results in revealing the impact of reform efforts on these students. The committee also recognizes the valuable role graduation tests can potentially play in making requirements concrete, in increasing the value of a diploma, and in motivating students and educators alike to work to higher standards. At the same time, educational testing is a complicated endeavor, that reality can fall far short of the model, and that testing cannot by itself provide the desired benefits. If testing is improperly used, it can have negative effects, such as encouraging school leaving, that can hit disadvantaged students hardest. The committee was concerned that the recent proliferation of high school exit examinations could have the unintended effect of increasing dropout rates among students whose rates are already far higher than the average, and has taken a close look at what is known about influences on dropout behavior and at the available data on dropouts and school completion.

Inequality in income, earnings, and wealth has risen dramatically in the United States over the past three decades. Most research into this issue has focused on the causes—global trade, new technology, and economic policy—rather than the consequences of inequality. In Social Inequality, a group of the nation's leading social scientists opens a wide-ranging inquiry into the social implications of rising economic inequality. Beginning with a critical evaluation of the existing research, they assess whether the recent run-up in economic inequality has been accompanied by rising inequality in social domains such as the quality of family and neighborhood life, equal access to education and health care, job satisfaction, and political participation. Marcia Meyers and colleagues find that many low-income mothers cannot afford market-based child care, which contributes to inequality both at the present time—by reducing maternal employment and family income—and through the long-term consequences of informal or low-quality care on children's educational achievement. At the other end of the educational spectrum, Thomas Kane links the growing inequality in college attendance to rising tuition and cuts in financial aid. Neil Fligstein and Taek-Jin Shin show how both job security and job satisfaction have decreased for low-wage workers compared with their higher-paid counterparts. Those who fall behind economically may also suffer diminished access to essential social resources like health care. John Mullahy, Stephanie Robert, and Barbara Wolfe discuss why higher inequality may lead to poorer health: wider inequality might mean increased stress-related ailments for the poor, and it might also be associated with public health care policies that favor the privileged. On the political front, Richard Freeman concludes that political participation has become more stratified as incomes have become more unequal. Workers at the bottom of the income scale may simply be too hard-pressed or too demoralized to care about political participation. Social Inequality concludes with a comprehensive section on the methodological problems involved in disentangling the effects of inequality from other economic factors, which will be of great benefit to future investigators. While today's widening inequality may be a temporary episode, the danger is that the current economic divisions may set in motion a self-perpetuating cycle of social disadvantage. The most comprehensive review of this quandary to date, Social Inequality maps out a new agenda for research on inequality in America with important implications for public policy.

Over the last decade, up to 544,000 10th- through 12th-grade students dropped out of school each year w/o completing a high school program. In Oct. 2000, about 11% of 16-through 24-year-olds who were not enrolled in a HS program had neither a high school diploma nor an equivalent credential. This report addresses these questions: what are the national and regional dropout rate trends?; what does the research say about factors assoc. with dropping out?; what state, local, or private efforts have been implemented to address the factors associated with dropping out?; and what Fed. efforts exist to reduce dropout rates and what is known about their effectiveness? Charts and tables.