Dropout rate high among disabled students

CONCORD, N.H. --Nearly half of all students with disabilities in New Hampshire drop out before graduating from high school, according to government statistics.

Only two other states, Wyoming and Indiana, have slightly higher dropout rates than New Hampshire's 47 percent in the 2004-2005 school year, the most recent available.

"While the dropout rate for all students is getting better, the rate for students with disabilities is only getting worse," said Richard Cohen, executive director for the Disabilities Rights Center.

The Legislature has already decided not to pass five of six bills designed to make the state, school districts and teachers more accountable for helping disabled students stay in school and score better on student achievement tests. A state Senate committee was expected to take testimony Tuesday on the sixth bill, which would create a commission of education and state executives to craft a plan to make improvements to the system.

The National Center for Special Education Accountability at Louisiana State University annually examines data on student dropouts, graduation and testing of disabled children that communities give to the Department of Education.

Since the 2000-01 school year, the dropout rate for students with disabilities has gotten slightly worse, while the rate for all other students has gotten better in New Hampshire. New Hampshire's dropout rate for these students was the highest of all the New England states and improvement here in the last four years was worse than any other in the region, according to the statistics.

The state reports the dropout rate among all students has gone down from about 15 percent to 12.2 percent for the four-year period ending in the 2005-06 school year.

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Information from: The Telegraph, http://wwww.nashuatelegraph.com