IDRA Study: Texas High Schools Reach All-Time Low Attrition Rate but Still Lose 80,000 Students

Any report out of the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) on attrition and dropout rates is always the most authoritative in our state due to their consistency in measures over the years. It's shocking to consider, as they note, that "In the last 33 years, Texas schools have lost a cumulative total of more than 4 million students from public high school enrollment prior to graduation."

Disproportionately impacting the Black and Latina/o/x youth, IDRA identified six school policies that lead to higher dropout rates as outlined in their infographic:

• Exclusionary Discipline
• In-grade Retention
• Low Funding and Insufficient Support for English Learners
• Unfair and Insufficient Funding
• Watered-Down, Non-College Prep Curricula
• Testing that is High-Stakes

To this list, I would add the lack of access to Ethnic Studies courses considering that students taking such courses are less likely to drop out of school (e.g., Cabrera et al., 2012). 

Thanks to our friends and colleagues at IDRA for doing this critical work. Check out additional resources they provide below. You can download the IDRA study here [pdf]. 

-Angela Valenzuela

Reference

Cabrera, N.L., Milem, J.F., & Marx, R.W. (2012). An empirical analysis of                     the effects of Mexican American Studies participation on student                     achievement within Tucson Unified School District [pdf].

 

Attrition and Dropout Rates in Texas

IDRA Study Gives a First Look at the Pandemic’s Effect on Attrition Rates

Texas public schools are losing one out of five students.

Each year, IDRA releases its attrition study. Attrition rates are an indicator of a school’s holding power, or the ability to keep students enrolled in school and learning until they graduate. Key findings from the latest study show the following.

• Texas is failing to graduate one out of every five students – which translates to losing 10 students per hour.
• The statewide attrition rate is 19%, meaning 19% of the freshman class of 2017-18 left school prior to graduating in the 2020-21 school year.
• At this rate, Texas will not reach universal high school education for another almost two decades in 2039.
• Schools are twice as likely to lose Latino students and Black students as white students before they graduate.
• In the last 33 years, Texas schools have lost a cumulative total of more than 4 million students from public high school enrollment prior to graduation.
• 125 counties had improved attrition rates since last year, 85 counties had higher attrition rates and 19 counties remained the same.

See reporter FAQs and resources regarding attrition and dropout data (and downloadable graphics)

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Quick Links to IDRA’s Attrition Study Stories and Resources

News Release: Texas High Schools Reaches All-Time Low Attrition Rate, but Still Loses 80,000 Students – IDRA Study Gives a First Look at the Pandemic’s Effect on Attrition Rates – See news release

Attrition Study: Texas Public School Attrition Study 2020-21 – See pdf

Infographic: Texas public schools are losing one out of five students – See infographic

Infographic: 8 Types of Dropout Data Defined – See infographic page

Infographic: 6 Policies and Practices that Lead to Higher Dropout Rates – See infographic page

Trend graphs: See attrition rates and numbers over the last 10 years – Look up your county

Article: Preview of IDRA’s 36th Annual Texas Public School Attrition Study – A First Look at the Pandemic’s Effect on Attrition Rates – See article

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Additional Resources

Report: College Bound and Determined – A report profiling what happens when a school district raises expectations for students instead of lowering them

Book: Courage to Connect: A Quality Schools Action Framework

Overview of the Valued Youth Partnership program, which keeps 98 percent of students in school (PDF)

Ideas and Strategies for Action

Eight Texas Regions Have Higher School Attrition Rates than Two Decades Ago

Check out the following link with a map that further breaks down regional trends. -Patricia

High School Attrition Rates across Texas Education
Service Center Regions, 2006-07, Released by IDRA

“With the magnitude of this loss, what is needed is a seismic shift
from dropout prevention to graduation for all;and all must mean all,” says IDRA president & CEO

San Antonio (May 22, 2008) – Eight of 20 regions in Texas have higher high school attrition rates than they did 22 years ago. Overall, Texas schools are losing one-third of their students. The Intercultural Development Research Association released detailed findings today showing that eight Texas regions have persistently high rates of losing students from public school enrollment. In 2006-07, attrition rates ranged from a low of 20 percent in ESC Region 17 (Lubbock) to a high of 46 percent in ESC Region 1 (Edinburg), compared to the state average of 34 percent.

Eight of the 20 service center regions (40 percent) had lower attrition rates in 2006-07 than in 1985-86, and four (20 percent) had rates that remained unchanged.

In early April, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings called for consistent formulas for states to calculate the number of students who graduate from high school on time. IDRA has been releasing attrition data each year for Texas schools using the same methodology since its inaugural statewide study in 1986, making year-to-year comparisons meaningful.

Directed by Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, IDRA is now releasing attrition data at the Texas regional level based on Texas education service center regions. Trend graphs of high school attrition in each Texas county and region are available online.

IDRA research shows that between 1985-86 and 2006-07, more than 2.6 million secondary students have been lost from public school enrollment in the state. Other key findings from the regional study include:

* Education service center (ESC) regions with traditionally high attrition rates include: ESC Region 1 (Edinburg), ESC Region 4 (Houston), ESC Region 10 (Richardson), ESC Region 13 (Austin), ESC Region 19 (El Paso), and ESC Region 20 (San Antonio).
* The total number of students lost from public high school public enrollment has increased from 86,272 in 1985-86 to 134,646 in 2006-07.
* Statewide, the attrition rates of Hispanic students and Black students have either remained unchanged or have worsened since 1985-86

“We must move from a low and archaic expectation that only some of our country’s students can successfully graduate from high school to a guarantee that all of our students will graduate,” said Dr. Robledo Montecel.

“Since this problem is systemic, the solutions must address schools as systems,” she added. IDRA’s Quality School Action Framework shows how communities and schools can work together to strengthen public schools’ capacities to improve the holding power of schools.

To turn things around, schools and communities in Texas and around the country are looking to new ways to understand the obstacles to school success and to work together to address them. For example, IDRA and Texas education service centers have been collaborating to present a series of interactive video conferences for parents and parent educators on working with schools to improve education of all students.

The main IDRA web site lists vital components for successful dropout prevention based on a review of research and IDRA’s 22 years of experience with its highly-successful dropout prevention program, the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program.

Attrition rates are an indicator of a school’s holding power, or ability to keep students enrolled in school and learning until they graduate. IDRA conducted Texas’ first-ever comprehensive statewide study of high school dropouts using a high school attrition formula to estimate the number and percent of students who leave school prior to graduation. The study in 1986 was the state’s first major effort to assess the school holding power of Texas public schools. IDRA’s annual attrition studies since then include county-level data by race and ethnicity.


See http://del.icio.us/IDRA for related articles and studies.

IDRA is an independent, private non-profit organization, directed by María Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., dedicated to creating schools that work for all children. As a vanguard leadership development and research team for more than three decades, IDRA has worked with people to create self-renewing schools that value and empower all children, families and communities. IDRA conducts research and development activities, creates, implements and administers innovative education programs and provides teacher, administrator, and parent training and technical assistance.