Too many high school dropout factories

Charter schools could help if we just had them

There is an interesting tool in the Alliance for Excellent Education’s web site that allows you to quickly determine a graduation-rate-like figure for all the high schools in Kentucky.

I used it to see how many schools fall into the category that Johns Hopkins University researchers have defined as a ‘Dropout Factory,’ namely schools that have a Johns Hopkins Promoting Power Index (graduation rate) average below 60 percent.

Here is the list, based on data from the Alliance.


These schools would all be prime candidates for reformation as charter schools - if our legislature would get off the dime and implement a charter school bill.



It’s time to start thinking about the kids in these miserably performing schools, for a change, instead of just mollifying the adults in them who continue to fail to educate children.

Also, after looking at the heavy representation of Jefferson County Public Schools in the list above, it is inexcusable that the pending charter school proposal from the Kentucky Department of Education would exempt Jefferson County altogether from charter school provisions.

Don’t forget, charter high schools in other states are having spectacular success with getting kids through to graduation. We pointed out some examples from North Carolina,

Boston



Los Angeles,



and Chicago before.