High school dropout rate climbs to 34.9% in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that the high school dropout rate for the Los Angeles Unified School District was 34.9% last year, up 3 percentage points from the year before.

For the state overall, the dropout rate went down 1 percentage point from the previous year to 20.1%.

Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell is quoted as saying that the rates are "unacceptably high" and that they are "alarmingly high" among Hispanic and African American students.

With many now saying that even a high school education is insufficient to obtain an adequate paying job, the implications of over a third of the high school students in Los Angeles Unified not even graduating from high school are very concerning indeed.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-briefs13-2009may13,0,4472466.story