Morgan Hill Unified School District saw 83.1 percent of its
students graduating from high school in 2009-10, but 12 percent
still dropped out, according to a report released Thursday by the
California Department of Education.
Morgan Hill Unified School District saw 83.1 percent of its students graduating from high school in 2009-10, but 12 percent still dropped out, according to a report released Thursday by the California Department of Education.
MHUSD has the fourth highest drop out rate of 11 Santa Clara County districts. Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High is the lowest with 1.7 percent while East Side Union High is ranked highest with 18.0 percent. Gilroy Unified is second to last with a 15.2 percent rate.
Dropout rates for the county by race and ethnicity reveal that Hispanic students dropped out at 31.2 percent, followed by American Indian at 23.3 percent. Overall, 16.8 percent of Santa Clara County students dropped out in 2009-2010.
“We need to do a better job of serving all of our students,” said Dr. Charles Weis, Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools in a release. “When they drop out, we not only have failed them, we have failed our entire community.”
Of those that graduated in Morgan Hill, only 45.8 percent completed coursework required for the University of California and California State University entrance. Gilroy was the lowest in the county, with 32.5 percent. The county average is 50.5 percent.
Data from 2008-2009 reveals Morgan Hill graduation numbers were at 86.3 percent, with a dropout rate of 14 percent.
However, the National Center for Education Statistics calculated this year’s numbers under a new method, which analyzed four years of adjusted data, measuring a single group of students that entered high school together in ninth grade during the 2006-2007 school year. It took into account student mobility such as transfers into and out of schools.
This the first time the Santa Clara County Office analyzed data with the four-year adjusted rate and therefore is not comparable to 2008-2009 or previous numbers.
Monday, the CDE will release the 2011 results for Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) for school, district, county and state levels.
School board trustee’s did not return phone calls or emails for comment.
