All those numbers are courtesy of the Colorado Department of Education, which collects the data and then produces copious spreadsheets laying it all out. We'll spare you the headache of looking through them in favor of this chart, provided by DPS:
2005-06: 4,017 of 36,217 students dropped out, an 11.1% dropout rate2006-07: 3,649 of 35,126 students dropped out, a 10.4% dropout rate
2007-08: 2,591 of 34,705 students dropped out, a 7.5% dropout rate
2008-09: 2,647 of 35,715 students dropped out, a 7.4% dropout rate
2009-10: 2,326 of 36,146 students dropped out, a 6.4% dropout rate
In announcing the numbers, Superintendent Tom Boasberg stressed that a big part of the district's dropout prevention strategy going forward will center on its Multiple Pathway Centers, described as schools "tailored to meet the needs of students who have had difficulty connecting successfully to educational pathways in the traditional settings."
The district currently has one: Summit Academy in southwest Denver. This fall, the district plans to open two more: Vista Academy in far northeast Denver and the Denver Center for 21st Century Learning in central Denver.
Boasberg also highlighted several schools whose individual dropout rates declined more than 70 percent. Among them: John F. Kennedy High School, whose rate went from 5.6 percent in 2005-06 to 1.2 percent in 2009-10; East High School, whose rate went from 5.3 to 1.4 percent; and South High School, whose rate went from 8.8 to 2.6 percent.
In real numbers, those percentages look like this:
John F. Kennedy High School2005-06: 115 dropouts out of 2,051 students 2009-10: 23 dropouts out of 1,960 students
East High School
2005-05: 143 dropouts out of 2,674 students 2009-10: 44 dropouts out of 3,209 students
South High School
2005-06: 170 dropouts out of 1,937 students 2009-10: 61 dropouts out of 2,373 students
"We are pleased to see such a large reduction in our dropout rate," Boasberg said in a press release. "Nevertheless, we have much work to do to reduce this dropout rate far more."
He made similar remarks last month when discussing the district's graduation rate. Last year, 51.8 percent of DPS students graduated "on time," meaning they graduated four years after enrolling as freshmen.
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