One Way To Take Care Of The Dropout Problem

A Rod Paige type of turnaround* ought to do wonders for Bloomberg’s chances in ’08 (or ’12!):

The city’s fiscal watchdog has sounded the alarm over a “significant and sustained” rise in the number of students discharged from public high schools, suggesting the increase could be artificially improving the graduation and dropout rates.

In a recent letter to the schools chancellor, Comptroller William Thompson Jr. noted that the steady climb began following a change in the way the city Department of Education defined discharged students in its annual reports beginning in 2002.

The change involved omitting a disclaimer that said a student could be considered discharged only after the student was confirmed to have been admitted to a new school outside the city public school system.

A spokesman for Chancellor Joel Klein acknowledged the omission but said the confirmation policy stood firm. And advocates who keep close tabs on the discharge policy said they believe the city has become more diligent in tracking discharged students.

Still, Thompson called the change “troubling,” saying that not confirming a student’s enrollment elsewhere “could artificially inflate the city’s high-school graduation rates.”

*See, for example.