Dropout Rates

Date posted: 07/30/2009

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 (GED), High School Equivalency Diploma or registers in a program leading to a GED;
• 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 on 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. Please see Additional Information for further discussion of graduation rates and the SASID system.

Beginning in 2005, Colorado law required school districts to obtain proof of transfer for students who transferred to schools in another state or country, to a private school, or who began a home-based education program. If such documentation was not received, the student must be counted as a dropout. The CDE conservatively estimates that prior to 2005, 10% of students leaving school were erroneously counted as transfers.

What this chart shows: Dropout Rates in Colorado & Larimer County School Districts, 2003-04 to 2007-08

Data Source: Colorado Department of Education

See data table

What these data tell us:

Since 2005-06, Larimer County school districts had lower dropout rates than the Colorado average. In 2003-04, all districts and the state showed a marked increase in rates due to the implementation of the SASID system. According to Poudre School District officials, prior to the implementation of the SASID system in 2003-04, students who dropped out during the summer months weren't included in the dropout statistics, creating lower rates. In an effort to correct for these inaccuracies, summer dropouts were inadvertently double counted in 2003-04 and 2004-05, which artificially raised the dropout rates for those two years.

Park School District class sizes are small, thereby showing a larger, although not significant, change in percentage if one or two students drop out of school. For example, in 2007-08, nine students dropped out of Park School District producing a dropout rate of 1.3%. Poudre School District would need about 80 students to drop out to create a similar dropout rate.

What this chart shows: Dropout Rates in Colorado & Larimer County by Race/Ethnicity, 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. Native American, Asian, and Black students are underrepresented in Larimer County student populations when compared to Hispanic and White students.

Hispanic students comprised 14% of the student population in Larimer County school districts in 2007-08. However, in the same year, nearly 29% of students dropping out of school were Hispanic. The Colorado Closing the Achievement Gap Commission was established in 2003 to address this issue. The November 2005 Final Report by the Commission, discusses this gap and offers 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 (CDE) 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 CDE 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
• Enrollment by Ethnicity
• Enrollment by School District
• High School Graduation Rates

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
2003-04	14,795	3.8
2004-05	16,757	4.2
2005-06	18,031	4.5
2006-07	18,027	4.4
2007-08	15,524	3.8
Park	Number	Dropout Rate
2003-04	14	2.0
2004-05	8	1.1
2005-06	11	1.6
2006-07	6	0.9
2007-08	9	1.3
Poudre	Number	Dropout Rate
2003-04	737	5.7
2004-05	644	5.0
2005-06	380	2.9
2006-07	337	2.5
2007-08	347	2.6
Thompson	Number	Dropout Rate
2003-04	234	2.9
2004-05	171	2.1
2005-06	190	2.3
2006-07	243	3.0
2007-08	245	3.0

See chart

Dropouts by Race/Ethnicity, Colorado & Larimer County School Districts - 2007-08

Race/Ethnicity	Colorado	Poudre	Thompson	Park
American Indian	347	7	4	1
Asian	300	3	3	0
Black	1,520	13	8	0
Hispanic	7,143	102	69	1
White	6,214	222	161	7

See chart

© 2004-2009 Larimer County | About | Newsletter | Site Map | Feedback