Dive Brief:
- While 92% of 18- to 24-year-olds had received a high school diploma or equivalent in 2013, up from 86.5% in 2000, significant gaps remain within and across racial and ethnic groups.
- An analysis by the American Institutes for Research found dropout rates were lowest among Asians at 3.2%, but within that population, just 1% of Korean youth were dropouts while 20.7% of Burmese youth were – similarly, just 4.7% of Costa Rican youth dropped out of school while 27% of Guatemalan youth did and 11.7% of Latino students nationally did the same.
- Students from opposite ends of the income distribution spectrum dropped out at significantly different rates – 10.7% among the lowest income quartile and 3.2% among the highest – and New Hampshire had the lowest dropout rate, 3.1%, compared to Louisiana, where an 11.6% dropout rate was the highest.
Dive Insight:
Digging deeper into data than the nationwide or subgroup averages is important. The Latino and Asian populations have incredible variety that is often glossed over. And among these groups, even across national origin, a student’s immigration status impacts achievement. AIR found immigrants from Latino countries dropped out at a rate of 22%, while Latinos born in this country dropped out at a much lower 8%. Many Burmese youth studying in U.S. schools today are refugees. Their experience as immigrants certainly contributes to their relatively high dropout rates, as does the trauma they must work through in their transition.
Districts must consider the nuances within their own student populations to formulate informed and targeted interventions. In many cases, a lack of information prevents schools from knowing their populations fully. But administrators should question whether that lack of information comes from a lack of will to get it.