Tuesday, November 24, 2009

More evidence of progress in Dallas ISD

In addition to the progress being documented in academic areas (see http://www.dallasisd.org/Dallasisd2009ProgressReportFINAL.pdf) there is record setting progress in student dropout rates! Using data posted 11-20-09 on the "current enrollment statistics" pages on the DISD web site (https://portal.dallasisd.org/mydata/) it is very easy to document the significant progress being made lowering the dropout rate in Dallas ISD schools throughout all areas of Dallas. A total of 157,151 students are documented in this 11-20-09 data and included in these trends.

This current enrollment data was downloaded and added to the DISD enrollment by grade spreadsheet on the http://www.studentmotivation.org/ web site. That spreadsheet includes DISD student enrollment since 1996-1997.

Below is a chart reflecting changes over the past 14 years using four separate measurements of graduation/dropout rates in DISD generated on this spreadsheet. Click on the chart to see a larger copy. All measurements indicate significant progress being made in DISD, especially during the past 4 years combined:

If anyone is interested in seeing the spreadsheet used to create this chart, it can be downloaded from from http://www.studentmotivation.org/DISDenrollmentbygrade1997-2010.xls . It is good for as many people in Dallas as is possible to know more about what is happening in our schools.

A second spreadsheet contains enrollment spreadsheets for each one of the 21 "Dropout Factory" high schools, so designated in a John Hopkins University national study in 2007. It was used to create the chart in the previous post comparing achievements in three geographic areas of DISD. It also can be downloaded from a different link: http://www.studentmotivation.org/DallasISD/DallasISDHighSchools1997-2010.xls .

The best news for DISD is that, following the criteria used by John Hopkins University to designate "Dropout Factories," a minimum of three of the 21 schools can no longer be classified as "Dropout Factories" based on this current data. When a school has three consecutive 9th to 12th grade promotion rate annual averages that together average above 60%, it would no longer be judged to be a "Dropout Factory." It is almost certain that the number of "Dropout Factories" in DISD will continue to go down for at least the next two years based on the current, very positive, enrollment patterns. Graduation rates are rising!

We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving in DISD.