Just a very short comment. You seem to think that public schooling is the cause of the dropout rate. You are wrong. Those dropout rates are a good example of the third variable problem. Its most likely not the public vs private vs home school that is the problem. Rather the result is most likely due to the endemic poverty in those cities. When you control for poverty, you'll find that the dropout rates are no more or less than what you would find in affluent areas.
Try it your self. Get a good stats program, SPSS, SAS, or R2. Then download the NORC 2001 and Beyond data set from the University of Chicago. This is a huge data set of the academic achievement of thousands of school children who were followed from entry into kindergarten to when they exited the school system. Not only was school achievement measured, but family economic, and various sociological factors were also recorded. You will find that poverty is a stronger predictor of school dropout rates than any other predictor variable with the possible exception of parental involvement. On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 10:08 AM, Jerry Barnes <[email protected]> wrote: > > For years, educators have tried often in vain to get more students to > graduate from high school on time and boost college-going rates. But few > approaches have had much success: Dropout rates in many cities approach 50%, > and a few cities including Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Houston and > Philadelphia graduate fewer than 45% of students. On a school-by-school > basis, recent research suggests that about one in eight high schools in the > USA many of them in the nation's biggest cities are virtual "dropout > factories" where fewer than 60% of freshmen graduate within four > years.<http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-05-20-1Adiplomas20_CV_N.htm> > > In those cities, a child could stay home and watch PBS and get the same > amount of learning and indoctrination. > > The United States has a very strong history of home schooling. Here's a > small sampling: > > George Washington > Thomas Jefferson > John Quincy Adams > James Madison > William Henry Harrison > John Tyler > Abraham Lincoln > Theordore Roosevelt > Woodrow Wilson > Franklin Delano Roosevelt > Stonewall Jackson > Robert E. Lee > Douglas MacArthur > George Patton > Thomas Edison > Orville Wright & Wilbur Wright > George Washington Carver > Booker T. Washington > Benjamin Franklin > Patrick Henry > Henry Clay > John Jay > John Marshall > John Rutledge > Mark Twain > Venus & Serena Williams > Jason Taylor > Tim Tebow > > Things are only getting worse for public schools. Enrollment is growing and > funding is shrinking. It's harder to find qualified teachers since those > who are qualified don't want to deal with the headaches involved with > teaching. > > Being a former math teacher and having a wife who works in the educational > field, I follow the educational issue with a lot of interest. The public > education system is heading for very hard times. More and more people will > be pulling their children out of this public option. > > By the way, the solution is simple, but not many on this list want to hear > so I'll refr > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:319438 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
