'Safety nets' help to lower dropout rate

Correction: Because of a reporting error, a July 5 story about area school dropout rates incorrectly identified the school district represented by Susan Zoller. She is the deputy superintendent in Bellingham, Wash., and her comments and the information she provided did not apply to Bellingham, Mass.

Programs intended to boost students' academic performance may have led to fewer teens dropping out of high school in Boston's western suburbs.

But tutoring, tracking systems that alert administrators to students who are perennially late or failing classes, and services for immigrant children may have whittled down the dropout rates as low as they can go, educators say.

"We have lots of safety nets here to capture kids academically," said Alexander Wyeth, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Waltham. "The kids who end up dropping out, it's really not academic. It's something else. There's something going on in their heads, in their family lives, that drives that outcome."

On average, 1.2 percent of area high school students dropped out during the 2005-06 academic year, according to recently released state Department of Education data. From the 2001-2002 academic year to the 2005-2006 academic year, dropout rates ranged from 1.1 percent to 1.5 percent in the area, while statewide, the rates ranged from 3.1 to 4.0 percent.

Waltham's experience was typical for the suburbs west of Boston. Twelve students, or 0.8 percent of a total enrollment of 1,466, dropped out of Waltham Senior High in 2005-2006. That was an increase from 0.3 percent dropping out the year before but far better than the rate as recently as 1998-99, when almost 5 percent of students left.

Wyeth said more students might have dropped out this year if not for tutoring, summer school, and other support programs that identify at-risk kids and supply them with extra help so they earn a diploma.

"We have communications that go home to parents early in students' academic struggles," he said.

Some of those support programs are a result of the 2001 federal No Child Left Behind Act, which requires schools to track students' progress or be labeled as underperforming.

"I believe No Child Left Behind has shone a big light on a lot of issues," said Superintendent Barbara McGann in Marlborough, where 25 students, or 2.2 percent of a total enrollment of 1,136, left the city's high school early in 2005-2006. The year before, 5.1 percent dropped out.

The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, a statewide standardized test, monitors student performance at several grade levels. Passing the 10th-grade test is a graduation requirement. But just because a student passes MCAS doesn't mean he or she will stay in school. Across the state, more than 65 percent of the 2,584 high school seniors who dropped out last year had passed the test. (A student must be at least 16 to leave school, according to state law. )

Students often leave school because they are from low-income families struggling to make ends meet or from immigrant families living transient lives, educators said. In such cases, school is often less important than more immediate concerns.

"In many cases, our dropouts are kids who are struggling," said Watertown Superintendent Steven Hiersche. "Some times they are kids who need to work and have difficulty fitting school in."

Watertown reaches out to those students as much as possible, Hiersche said. "All of us have increased services for kids. The ability to catch kids before they even start thinking of dropping out is something we do well."

In Watertown, only 0.4 percent, or 3 students out of 702, dropped out in 2005-2006. That was a decrease from 3 percent the year before.

Educators also said more teens are staying in school because they see that their career options are limited if they leave school without graduating.

"In the last five years, we really started being clearer about why a high school diploma is more important now than it was 20 or 30 years ago, how it's a ticket that can get you where you want," said Susan Zoller, deputy superintendent in Bellingham. "Kids and families are beginning to realize you only have access to certain kinds of work and income levels if you don't graduate from high school."

Twelve Bellingham students dropped out in 2005-2006, or 1.5 percent of a total enrollment of 776. That was down from 2.5 percent the year before.

Marlborough's superintendent, McGann, said she is happy about the decreasing number of dropouts in her district but stressed that she and her colleagues cannot rest on their laurels. Society pays for dropouts, who are more likely to seek welfare and other services when they can't find well-paying jobs, she said.

James Vaznis of the Globe staff contributed to this report.