PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Superintendent Tony Watlington says his long-term plan for the School District of Philadelphia includes a focus on attendance. The goal is to reduce the dropout rate and raise the graduation rate.
Philadelphia has a double-digit dropout rate, says Watlington. “As I review the data, it’s anywhere between 11% and 14%” — much higher than most Pennsylvania districts. That means more than one out of 10 high school freshmen will have disappeared from the rolls by the time they would be seniors.
The social costs of dropouts have been well-documented. The superintendent said he read one recent study showing each student who drops out will ultimately cost the city more than $400,000.
“It has huge implications not just for safety in the city of Philadelphia. It has huge implications for the economy here in the city of Philadelphia.”
Compared to graduates, high school dropouts make up a disproportionately higher percentage of incarcerated people, are more likely to rely on social programs, and tend to require higher public health insurance spending, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. And high school dropouts generally earn less and generate less of the tax revenue that funds public education.
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So Watlington says, starting this month, he will give the school board regular updates on the dropout rate as well as a count of how many students and teachers attend classes, giving special attention to the barriers that keep students from showing up.
“If we improve teacher attendance, student attendance, and we reduce the number of dropouts, it will absolutely over time — including this year — have some impact on that four-year graduation rate,” he said.
Watlington said the five-year plan he will present this spring should identify strategies that will help keep kids in school every day.