Houston Area High Schools Drop Out Rates (Austin, Pasadena: 2013, movers)

[fnh]

In a recent thread another poster alluded to "dropout factory" schools in Houston so, curious, I gathered the dropout rates for area high schools for the most recent graduation class cohort available. These numbers are the 4-year longitudinal drop out rate for the graduation class of 2012. (That is, a measure of how many entering ninth-graders drop out before graduating.) I don't claim this list to be complete, it's just the list of schools I looked at though I tried to include many. I also did not include selective magnets or charters that I knew because potential drop-outs are expelled first. All of the data are publicly available on the TEA website so if your school is not included here, take a gander yourself:
ArcGIS Solutions online app

And go Friendswood! Is it possible to have ZERO drop-outs? If true that's commendable. As always, I strongly caution against using any singular point of data in judging the quality of a school though most people just want an easy answer. And, I know there are ways of fudging drop out data by creative misclassification, but the shift would be in the same direction for every school. Frankly, though, I found the numbers to challenge my own prejudice so I present them here. I assumed the rates would be higher at some of the schools that are less favored and lower at others that are often recommended. I've also included state and district averages for the Class of 2012.

2012 Drop Out Percentage - TX State Average: 6.3

2012 Drop Out Percentage - Area Districts

Friendswood 0.0
Clear Lake 1.1
Alvin 1.3
Humble 1.5
Conroe 1.5
Tomball 1.7
Katy 3.0
Lamar Consolidated 3.5
Channelview 3.9
Cy-Fair 4.0
Fort Bend 4.3
Alief 4.6
Klein 4.8
Galena Park 5.3
Spring Branch 5.9
Pasadena 7.1
HISD 11.3
Aldine 14.4


2012 Drop Out Percentage - Area High Schools

Friendswood 0.0
Kingwood 0.1
Glenda Dawson 0.2
Seven Lakes 0.2
Pearland 0.7
The Woodlands 0.7
Stephen F Austin 1.0
Kingwood Park 1.0
Clear Lake 1.0
Clements 1.1
Clear Creek 1.1
Cypress Woods 1.2
Cinco Ranch 1.2
Clear Springs 1.3
Manvel 1.3
Taylor 1.3
Tomball 1.7
Foster 1.7
Davis 1.8
Kempner 2.0
Cypress Lakes 2.3
Memorial 2.3
Galena Park 2.4
Elkins 2.5
Atascocita 2.6
La Porte 2.7
Katy 2.9
Humble 3.1
Furr 3.2
Lamar 3.3
Langham Creek 3.4
Channelview 3.4
Dulles 3.5
Cy-Fair 3.6
Reagan 3.8
Klein 3.8
Klein Collins 4.1
Klein Oak 4.1
Cypress Ridge 4.1
Travis 4.2
Bellaire 4.4
Jersey Village 4.7
Hightower 4.7
Stratford 4.9
Cypress Creek 5.0
Sterling 5.2
South Houston 5.4
Dobie 5.6
George Bush 5.8
Lamar Consolidated 5.9
Stafford 6.0
North Shore 6.4
Morton Ranch 6.5
Klein Forest 7.5
Sam Rayburn 8.5
Yates 8.8
Cypress Springs 9.0
Aldine 9.1
Spring Woods 9.4
Northbrook 9.7
Milby 10.5
Spring 10.6
Madison 10.7
Waltrip 11.1
MacArthur 12.6
Austin 13.8
Jones 14.0
Wheatley 15.8
Worthing 23.8
North Forest 33.6

[ipuck]

Nice info thanks.

Actually i am surprised the rate is not lot higher. There are other cities with significantly higher drop out rates. I wonder if the hard-line drag the parent in court for truancy have something to do with this.

[nana053]

I think this data is fudged. How do they account for kids who move, kids who are homeless, kids who go to prison, etc.?

[cheryjohns]

1 out of 3 drop out in North Forest? Holy cow.

[fnh]

Beginning with students who attended in 2005-06, TEA has accounted for students who: (a) graduated in a previous school year; (b) moved from one public school district and enrolled in another or; (c) received General Educational Development (GED) certificates.

Also:

Movers
Students who move from one Texas public school district and enroll in another also are accounted for by TEA. Attendance records submitted each June by all Texas public school districts and enrollment records submitted each fall enable TEA to verify reenrollment. Students found to have enrolled in another district during the course of a single school year are identified as "school-year movers." Students found to have enrolled in another district during the school-start window, that is, between the first day of school and the last Friday in September, are identified as "summertime movers."

Anyone can see the definitions, methodology and formulas here and download the 172-page (!) document pertaining only to the Completion/Dropout Rate of this class year.
Texas Education Agency - Four-Year Graduation and Dropout Data, Class of 2012

Students are tracked to the best of their ability, made much easier today with huge databases than when I was in school. There is a whole table devoted to different reason "Leaver" codes, sadly including incarceration.

[fnh]

Originally Posted by cheryjohns

1 out of 3 drop out in North Forest? Holy cow.

I know, that is heartbreaking. Wasn't this the failing school that was taken over by HISD?

HISD officials find grim conditions at N. Forest schools - Houston Chronicle

Added: It also demonstrates why smaller is not always better for school districts.

[Vicman]

What is Westside's dropout rates?

[LegoBatman]

Originally Posted by Vicman

What is Westside's dropout rate?

It looks like the rate for Westside HS is 5.4%

If you follow the "ArcGIS" link in fnh's post you can "navigate" to the school and pull up the full report. Here is the one for Westside.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by LegoBatman

It looks like the rate for Westside HS is 5.4%

If you follow the "ArcGIS" link in fnh's post you can "navigate" to the school and pull up the full report. Here is the one for Westside.

Thank you!

Got Westfield: 4-year longitudinal dropout rate of 14.6% http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfre...c101919002.pdf

Dekaney: 4-year dropout rate of 12.0% http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfre...c101919003.pdf

[Schumacher713]

I doubt that Friendswood and Kingwood are near 0%. Plenty of girls get knocked up and drop out there. I am sure they fudge and cook the books. Though I do believe some of these inner city schools are that bad.