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Half Of State's Schools Receive 'Factory' Label

The Associated Press

Published: November 2, 2007

MIAMI - Florida's public high schools have some of the worst student retention rates in the country, with half qualifying as "Dropout Factories," four times the national average, according to a new analysis of U.S. Education Department data.

The state's percentage of dropout factories, 51.1 percent, was the second-highest in the nation, slightly less than South Carolina's, according to the analysis conducted by Johns Hopkins University for The Associated Press.

The term "dropout factory," coined by Hopkins researcher Bob Balfanz, describes schools where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year.
Balfanz says he has a hypothesis about why Florida's numbers are so high: large schools and a focus on test scores. Schools with an average of 2,000 or 3,000 students are fairly common throughout the state, Balfanz said.

"That's an easy place for kids to be anonymous. That's a key driver of kids dropping out," Balfanz said.

In addition, the state's accountability is focused on test scores, he said. That includes passing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) to earn a diploma. With the emphasis on test scores instead of graduation rates, schools aren't heavily penalized for low retention rates, Balfanz said.

Nearly half of Florida's 67 counties have at least one dropout factory, and there are more than 150 statewide. That list includes St. Petersburg High School in Pinellas County, Gov. Charlie Crist's alma matter. Crist's office did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Mark Pudlow, a spokesman for the Florida Education Association, agreed that the focus on test scores in Florida has had a huge affect on students. And he said he wasn't particularly surprised by the data.

"We haven't made as great an investment in education as some other states have," said Pudlow, the union that represents 136,000 teachers and school support staff statewide.
Florida Department of Education spokesman Tom Butler said in an e-mail that the department uses various strategies to keep kids in school. Those include reading and mathematics courses for students who score low on the FCAT and mentoring and leadership programs, Butler said.

LOCAL SCHOOLS

Here are the public high schools that Johns Hopkins University researchers labeled "Dropout Factories." The term describes schools where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. The researchers looked at the combined classes of 2004, 2005 and 2006.

HILLSBOROUGH

East Bay

Hillsborough

King

Leto

Plant City

Robinson

Jefferson

Tampa Bay Technical

Bloomingdale

Wharton

PINELLAS