In today's Seattle Times there is a story about the 22 high schools in Washington where 40 percent of the students enrolled as freshman don't make it to their senior year. Nationally there are over 2000 schools that have the same demographics Quoted in the article is Phil Brockman, principal of Ballard High School in Seattle, who is also the Washington Association of Secondary School Principals President-elect.
In July Phil along with nine other principal from Washington joined other administrators from around the country in Washington DC for National Association of Elementary School Principals/National Association of Secondary School Principals National Leaders Conference. It was at one of the sessions we heard for the first time the term "dropout factory" and I remember discussing the implication of such a term amongst ourselves then. "Failing school" has a negative connotation but "dropout factory" takes that to a whole new level.
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I need to ask, of the 22 schools with the large dropout rates, how many of them have DECA, FFA, welding, carpentry, wood shop, auto mechanics, metal shop, advanced drama, advanced art, jazz band, ag, newspaper class, journalism, etc., etc., etc.? My guess would be that these are not important programs at these schools. If we don't keep, or make our programs relevant to ALL kids then we are going to lose them. We are so worried about our reading and math scores and competing with the world for high tech excellence that we forget that not all kids will fit into these little boxes. If we continue the way we are going I can foresee us farming out changing an electrical outlet in our house to a foreign firm. Lets try to keep the word "comprehesive" as part of what we call our comprehensive high schools and use those classes and courses to strengthen our reading and math skills rather than look at them as a hinderance to progress in those areas.
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