Dropout Rates

Date posted: 08/27/2008

By Colorado law, a dropout is a juvenile who leaves school before the completion of a high school diploma or equivalent. A student who transfers to another public, private, or home school program is not considered a dropout. Additionally, a student is not a dropout if he/she:

• transfers to an educational program recognized by the district
• completes a General Educational Development Certificate (G.E.D.), High School Equivalency Diploma or registers in a program leading to a G.E.D.
• is committed to an institution that maintains educational programs; or
• is so ill that he/she is unable to participate in a homebound or special therapy program.

Dropout data reflects the entire student population from grades 7 through 12.

During the 2003-04 school year, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) began collecting year-end data based for each student using the State Assigned Student Identifiers (SASID) system. The new system eliminates errors such as double counting students who dropped out and later re-enrolled. With the capability to track individual students, the CDE expects dropout rates to increase until the first cycle of the new system is complete in 2007. Please see Additional Information for further discussion of graduation rates and the SASID system.

What this chart shows: Dropout Rates in Colorado & Larimer County School Districts, 2000-01 to 2007-08

Data Source: Colorado Department of Education

See data table

What these data tell us:

In general, Larimer County School Districts had lower dropout rates than the Colorado average. In 2004, all districts and the state showed a marked increase in rates due to the implementation of the SASID system, this seemed to particularly affect the Poudre District. However, in 2005 Larimer County School District's dropout rate began to decline, generally, while the overall Colorado rate continued to increase.

Park School District class sizes are small, thereby showing a larger, although not significant, effect in change in percentage if one or two students drop out of school. For example, in 2005, eight students dropped out of Park School District producing a dropout rate of 1.1%, Poudre and Thompson districts would need about 100 students to dropout for a rate of this size.

What this chart shows: Larimer County School Districts Dropout and Student Population Percentages & Numbers by Ethnicity/Race, 2007-08

Data Source: Colorado Department of Education

See data table

What these data tell us:

As mentioned above, small student samples cause dropout rates to fluctuate more widely than those based on larger student samples. American Indian, Asian, and Black students are underrepresented in Larimer County student populations, when compared to Hispanic and White students.

Hispanic students comprised 13% of the student population in Larimer County School Districts in 2005. However, in the same year, nearly 30% of students dropping out of school were Hispanic. In Colorado, the Colorado Closing the Achievement Gap Commission (a commission of the Colorado Department of Education) has been working on this issue for six years. An interim report by the Commission discusses this gap and strategies to close it. An August 2005 report, Understanding Colorado's Achievement Gap, from the Bell Policy Center provides further explanation of this gap and potential solutions.

Additional Information:

The new Colorado system of tracking individual students (instead of using aggregate numbers) produces more accurate accounting of students' progress through the school system. The new method allows the Colorado Department of Education to do post-collection (student count) follow-up on individual students. This process allows districts to properly adjust student exit status by reclassifying students who have been misidentified as dropouts, expulsions, or transfers. The result is a true account of students and their achievement from eighth through twelfth grade. For example, 2004 dropout rates for Colorado originally counted 11,302 students. After post collection follow-up, 3,619 additional students were determined to be dropouts. Also, 27,846 students were documented as transferring to another district in the original count, but 9,504 of these students were not reported as enrolled in any other districts prior to the end of the school year. The new system eliminates these errors. The majority of these students were reclassified as dropouts after the C.D.E. contacted the districts and the districts conducted further investigation. Some of these students transferred out of state, to private school or entered into home schooling situations.

On Compass -

• ACT Scores
• CSAP Scores
• Education Executive Summary
• Enrollment by Ethnicity
• Enrollment by School District
• High School Graduation Rate

Outside Compass -

• Ask Colorado - Interactive online librarian service from Colorado libraries
• Colorado Department of Education - K-12 Academic Standards
  • Colorado Education Statistics
  • Definitions of Selected Terms
• Colorado Education and Library Directory
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Park School District
• Poudre School District
• Thompson School District
• United States Department of Education - Help My Child with Academics: a resource for parents and their children's school success.

Standards or Targets

Data Tables:

Dropout Numbers/Rates - Larimer County School Districts & Colorado

Colorado	Number	Dropout Rate
2000	10,789	3.0%
2001	10,718	2.9%
2002	9,722	2.6%
2003	9,068	2.4%
2004	14,795	3.8%
2005	16,757	4.2%
2006	18,031	4.5%
2007	18,027	4.4%
Park	Number	Dropout Rate
2000	22	3.1%
2001	10	1.4%
2002	3	0.4%
2003	3	0.4%
2004	14	2.0%
2005	8	1.1%
2006	11	1.6%
2007	6	0.9%
Poudre	Number	Dropout Rate
2000	289	2.5%
2001	239	1.9%
2002	197	1.4%
2003	223	1.8%
2004	737	5.7%
2005	644	5.0%
2006	380	2.9%
2007	337	2.5%
Thompson	Number	Dropout Rate
2000	206	2.7%
2001	215	2.8%
2002	206	2.5%
2003	174	2.2%
2004	234	2.9%
2005	171	2.1%
2006	190	2.3%
2007	243	2.5%

See chart

Dropouts and Student Population Totals and Percentage by Race/Ethnicity

Larimer County School Districts - 2007-08

Race/Ethnicity	Dropouts		Student Population
American Indian	13	2.2%	248	1.1%
Asian	4	0.7%	476	2.1%
Black	11	1.9%	340	1.5%
Hispanic	172	29.7%	3072	13.8%
White	386	65.9%	18107	81.4%

See chart

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