East Bay high schools are seeing high dropout rates that should be of concern to everyone. The total dropout rate for students in the four-year period of grade nine to twelve in Alameda County is 26.7 percent. For Hispanics, the rate is 31.1 percent, which is critical since Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in the nation.
Youth Uprising is a not-for-profit organization that works to address the youth education crisis in East Oakland where 43 percent of residents over the age of 25 do not have a high school diploma. Of the thirteen school districts in Alameda County, Oakland’s has the highest dropout rate for every ethnic group and a total rate of forty percent for the four years between grades nine and twelve.
Krystal R. Justice, Career and Education Director at Youth Uprising says there are of number of challenges for teenagers to graduate from high school:
- Violence inside and outside the classroom. “Young people have been killed. They are dealing with violence and instability so they do not get focused in the class.”
- Good quality teaching. “We need teachers who actually can connect with young people.”
- Belief in the future. “We need to give hope for the future. The students have to envision themselves working and have a positive vision of the future.”
“Students have to engage with the feeling of success and feeling of being productive,”says Justice.
Angelica Wilcher recently graduated from a high school in Oakland and will be the first in her family to go to college. “I knew college was possible,” said Wilcher. “My mom always pushed me to succeed and I am excited to be the first.”
Wilcher is happy that soon she will go to Cal State in Hayward. She said that it was not easy to finish high school and the most she needed was support and information.
Young people who drop out of high school are unlikely to have the minimum skills and credentials necessary to function in today’s workplace, according to KIDS COUNT. The completion of high school is required for accessing post-secondary education, and is a minimum requirement for most jobs. Young adults with low education are more likely to live in poverty, receive government assistance, and be involved in crime.
Nationally, black and Hispanic youth are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to drop out of high school. In 2009, five percent of whites ages 16 to 24 were not enrolled in school and had not completed high school, compared with ten percent of blacks and eighteen percent of Hispanics. The rate for Hispanics is in part the result of the high proportion of immigrants in this age group who never attended school in the U.S.
GOOD NEWS
Angelica Wilcher recently graduated from a high school in Oakland and will be the first in her family to go to college. “I knew college was possible,” said Wilcher. “My mom always pushed me to succeed and I am excited to be the first.”
Wilcher is happy that soon she will go to Cal State in Hayward. She said that it was not easy to finish high school and the most she needed was support and information.
Young people who drop out of high school are unlikely to have the minimum skills and credentials necessary to function in today’s workplace, according to KIDS COUNT. The completion of high school is required for accessing post-secondary education, and is a minimum requirement for most jobs. Young adults with low education are more likely to live in poverty, receive government assistance, and be involved in crime.
Nationally, black and Hispanic youth are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to drop out of high school. In 2009, five percent of whites ages 16 to 24 were not enrolled in school and had not completed high school, compared with ten percent of blacks and eighteen percent of Hispanics. The rate for Hispanics is in part the result of the high proportion of immigrants in this age group who never attended school in the U.S.
GOOD NEWS
Census Bureau reports more young Hispanic adults have high school diplomas
Proportionately more young Hispanic adults are completing high school and fewer are dropping out than were doing so a decade ago, according to an analysis of enrollment trends by the U.S. Census Bureau. Among Hispanic 18 to 24 year-olds, 22 percent were not enrolled in high school and lacked a high school diploma or equivalent in 2008, compared with 34 percent in 1998.
These statistics come from a new analysis, which focuses particularly on the issue of enrollment below modal grade, resulting from students being held back or made to repeat a grade.
Fourteen million Hispanics were enrolled in schools at all levels in 2008 out of a total enrollment of 76 million students across the United States. The Hispanic portion of all students (18 percent in 2008) increased by 5 percentage points from a decade earlier (13 percent in 1998).
In 2008, 22 percent of Hispanic 18- to 24-year-olds were not enrolled in high school and lacked a high school diploma or equivalent. The corresponding percentages for non-Hispanic whites were 6 percent, blacks were 13 percent and Asians were 4 percent.
The decrease from 1998 to 2008 in the percent of who were not enrolled and lacked a high school diploma or equivalent was 12 percent for Hispanics. Decrease that was significantly different compared to the other race groups.
Statistics for this analysis were collected in October 2008.
The report can be accessed at: http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p20-564.pdf