Fewer students dropping out of Mass. high schools

By James Vaznis, Globe staff

Fewer students dropped out of public high schools in Massachusetts last year, according to a new report released today.

The number of students who called it quits was 9,959, or 3.4 percent of the nearly 296,000 students enrolled in high school last year. That is down from 11,436 students, or 3.8 percent, the previous year.

However, big gaps existed between dropout rates of students of different racial and ethnic groups. Hispanics had the highest dropout rate, 8.3 percent, accounting for almost a third of all the students who quit. Blacks followed at 5.8 percent, whites at 2.2 percent, and Asians at 2 percent.

The decrease was due "to our tenacious students and their families, teachers, and school leadership," Governor Deval Patrick said in a statement.

The decline comes in the midst of a push by Patrick, the Legislature, and the state's senior education leaders to keep more students in school. A special commission is researching dropout prevention strategies and academic support programs that can be adopted by school districts across the state. One idea is to raise the age that students are allowed to drop out of school from 16 to 18.

"We cannot rest until we have made every effort to reach out to students at risk of dropping out to ensure they are receiving the support in and out of school they need to be successful," said Paul Reville, the state's education secretary.

The Boston public schools, where Superintendent Carol R. Johnson has launched a "Graduation for All" initiative, saw its rate decline for two years in a row, with about 1,400 students, or 7.6 percent, dropping out. Two years ago, the district had a rate of 9.9 percent.