According to an audit released by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, the dropout rate of public school students is higher than reports made by the city’s Department of Education (DOE).
DiNapoli calculated the dropout rate for the 2004 to 2008 school years may be between 15.5 and 16.5 percent, more than the 13 percent reported by the DOE. As a result of the number of dropouts, the graduation rate for the same school years, according to the audit, may have been as low as 62.9 percent rather than the 65.5 percent calculated by the DOE.
DiNapoli attributes the incorrect rates to the DOE’s erroneous classification of considering dropout students as having been “discharged” from high school. Discharged students should only be categorized as such when they transfer to another school, leave the country or are deceased, according to DiNapoli.
Reported rates that were within five percent of audited rates were considered generally accurate by the audit, but the difference means that the graduation and discharge rates incorrectly include thousands of students who have actually dropped out.
“The city school system needs to sharpen its pencils when it comes to knowing which kids are dropping out and which kids are transferring to another school,” said DiNapoli. “The DOE should be doing its homework and making sure the right papers are turned in to back up the reasons why students are leaving school.”
DOE “discharge” records for school years from 2004 to 2008 were audited and found that in a random sample of 500 “discharged” students, 74 of them did not have the required documentation and as a result should have instead been classified as dropouts.
High school graduation and dropout rates are used as indicators of a school’s effectiveness.
The DOE reported that the city’s 2004-08 general education cohort had a total of 88,612 students, of whom 46,896 graduated, 17,025 were discharged and 9,323 dropped out.
The comptroller’s staff also found errors in the DOE’s graduation and dropout rates for the 2004 to 2008 special education cohort. They estimated that dropout rates were higher and graduation rates were lower than reported.
The DOE said action will be taken to implement DiNapoli’s recommendations to closely examine and regulate dischargers to make sure they are in accordance with State Education Department regulations and classified correctly.
