KC’s dropout rate: First, the good news

Last June, the Kansas City, Missouri, School District had to report a dismal 42 percent dropout rate to Missouri’s Department of Education. This year, District officials plan to report a dropout rate of 10 to 12 percent — a huge improvement for the 2008-2009 school year.

That’s the good news. The bad news is, these numbers might not have anything to do with more kids staying in school.

Students who transfer to other districts aren’t considered dropouts, and previously, the district could merely report that x number of students transferred out of the KCMSD each year. But last fall, Missouri’s Department of Education changed their standards. If the school district couldn’t prove where each student went — which means providing the name of the student’s new school and the exact dates of departure and re-enrollment — then that student was classified as a dropout.

Finding out about the new rules in March 2008 was “like if it were the last two minutes of the Super Bowl and they tell

you that now, the end zone is in a different spot,” says Michelle Metje, the District’s Coordinator of Transition Services. She keeps track of attendance at Kansas City’s 62 public schools. Until this year, Kansas City District’s records were poorly kept, Metje says.”This time last year, we didn’t know where 2,500 kids were.”

Her staff was “devastated.”