Colorado’s high-school dropout rate remained nearly stagnant, while the overall high- school graduation rate declined slightly.
For the 2004-05 school year, the most recent for which data are available, the graduation rate was 80.1 percent, according to the Colorado Department of Education, which released the data last week. That represents a 3.5 percentage-point decrease from the 2002-03 school year, when the rate was 83.6 percent.
The graduation rate looks at the number of students in a class who are eligible to graduate over a four-year period and calculates the percentage who actually graduate.
Meanwhile, dropouts increased by 0.4 percentage points since last year, up to 4.2 percent for the 2004-05 school year, according to the department.
The dropout rate is an annual rate that reflects the percentage of all students enrolled in grades seven to 12 who leave school during a single school year.
Education Commissioner William Moloney said that there was little change in the numbers and that the rates in individual districts would more accurately reflect what is happening in schools.
From district to district, rates varied.
In Aurora Public Schools, for example, the dropout rate also climbed, from 5.4 percent in the 2003-04 school year to 7.2 percent the next year.
Assistant Superintendent William Stuart said he was concerned about the rates and noted that the district last year created a high school reform committee that is examining how to better prepare kids to graduate.
The committee will go back as far as middle school to see what preparations students need, Stuart said.
In Jefferson County, the state’s largest school district with roughly 84,000 students, the dropout rate was nearly flat, moving from 4.5 percent in the 2003-04 school year to 4.3 percent in the 2004-05 school year.
Cynthia Whitlock, the district’s director of school management, said even though the changes are slight, “in human terms … it is significant.”
She said the district is examining whether it is offering enough options for all students to keep them in school. Among the options is creating a class to prepare students for Advanced Placement courses.
Those pre-AP classes would be open to all kids, not just those on a college track.
“It leads to kids believing in themselves,” she said.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-954-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
