Dear Colleagues:

On July 16, 2008, the state Department of Education released preliminary figures showing that in San Diego Unified, over a four-year period, 22.8 percent of the Class of 2007 dropped out somewhere between ninth grade and graduation. Another 6 to 8 percent received GEDs or Certificates—most states also count these students as dropouts.

The numbers among African Americans and Latinos are especially disheartening. Of our students who entered ninth grade in 2003 and were scheduled to graduate in 2007, 30.5 percent of African Americans and 28.7 percent of Latinos did not receive a diploma.

These numbers are unacceptable. We are failing too many children and families. We must all take ownership of this problem.

Many dedicated employees are already working to correct this situation. Plans are in place to improve the relevance of our curriculum, the relationships with our students and the rigor of our classes in the upcoming school year. We also plan to implement the following dropout prevention strategies.

• Graduation Coaches: Each comprehensive high school will have a staff member specifically charged with supporting graduation goals. They’ll ensure that students pass the California High School Exit Exam and make up classes needed to receive a diploma.
  
  
• Reduced Class Size: All high schools have been allocated enough teachers to lower class size to 20 students to one teacher in ninth grade English classes. Thirty of our impacted elementary schools have been allocated enough teachers to lower class size to 15-17 students per one teacher in grades K-2.
  
  
• Middle College High School: Following the success of our award-winning small high school located on a college campus, the Met School at San Diego Mesa College, we will open a new small high school at downtown’s City College. The Middle College High School at San Diego City College will have a humanities focus.
  
  
• Virtual High School: We will open two new virtual high schools, one located at the Mt. Everest site and one off Texas Street in Mission Valley. Students will be able to complete independent study and recover lost credit at these school centers.
  
  
• Project Recovery: During the first two weeks of the school year, teams of central office staff, school counselors and administrators, and community volunteers will visit the homes and work sites of SDUSD students who were on our rolls at the end of the 2007-08 school year but did not return to school. Students will be encouraged to return to school. Options such as independent study, credit recovery, virtual high school and Middle College High will be presented to students. Each team will be led by one of my central office Cabinet members and will be charged with reviewing each potential dropout’s cumulative folder to determine what credits the student needs to graduate.
  
  
• Truancy Monitoring: Research shows a high correlation between student absenteeism and dropping out. This coming school year, we plan to intensify our efforts to notify parents when students are not in attendance in our schools.
  
  
• Attendance Incentives: We will partner with local businesses to pilot a ninth grade attendance incentive program in five of our most impacted high schools. Ninth grade students who have weekly perfect attendance will have the chance to win prizes which include iPods, gas cards, phone cards, etc.
  
  

Often, students begin dropping out of school long before they enter high school. It is imperative that we teach students to read well in elementary school, and our middle schools must make sure that students have the social and academic skills necessary for high school success. High schools must develop the rigor, relationships and relevance necessary to engage students in learning. Our goal must be a 100 percent cohort graduation rate with no dropouts.

When I arrived in San Diego, I made a commitment to reducing the number of dropouts and increasing our ninth grade cohort graduation rate. With your help, I have every confidence that we can achieve those goals.

Thank you again for your dedication to our students.

Terry B. Grier, Ed.D
Superintendent

P.S. – If you’d like to look at individual schools or statewide numbers, go to http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/ and look for “Dropouts” in the “Subject” area.