Alleghany's dropout rate increases

A total of 21 students dropped out of Alleghany County Schools during the 2007-08 school year, according to information recently released by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

The current dropout rate is 4.09, an increase from 2006-07 numbers when 16 students dropped out of Alleghany County Schools for a rate of 3.09.

According to DPI, a "dropout" is defined as a student, who was enrolled at some time during the previous school year, has not graduated from high school, has not transferred to another school nor is temporarily absent due to a suspension, a "school-approved" illness or death. Since the 2003-04 school year, the number of dropouts in the county has fluctuated, according to reports. Of the aforementioned school years, the school system reported the most dropouts during the 2004-05 school year with 25 and a rate of 5.36. In comparison, the following school year, the number decreased to 13, for a rate of 2.69. The report indicated all 13 students attended Alleghany High School.

During the 2003-04 school year, 17 students dropped out (for a rate of 3.85) and 16 were reported to have dropped out last year (for a rate of 3.09).

Of the recently released report, Superintendent Jeff Cox said, "We've been trying to look at this over a period of several years and while our numbers crept up the last couple years, when you look at a 10-year period of time, we've had some peaks and valleys with our dropout numbers.

That said, we're always concerned when a student makes the choice to drop out of high school. We have a real benefit being in a small community to be able to have individual conferences with every student who wants to drop out. Most of the time, we can counsel those students into a path that leads to their graduation but sometimes, unfortunately we cannot."

As a response to the rising number last year, Trojan Academy—a program overseen by a teacher assistant, housed at the Alleghany branch of Wilkes Community Center and staffed by teachers during their planning periods—was instituted.

Cox noted the program did "save a couple of kids who might have otherwise dropped out," but the program was found "not to be the most efficient use of our resources." Instead, an alternative learning program is being utilized. Cox explained the alternative program, the equivalent of a computer lab, will allow students who are falling behind to use computers to catch up.

Meanwhile, Cox remarked while the number of students dropping out increased during the last school year, the dropout numbers are not directly correlated with the four-year cohort graduation rate, which ranked Alleghany Schools number six of the state's top 10 school systems. Alleghany's cohort graduation rate of 81.6 accounted for the students that started at AHS as freshmen and graduated four years later.

Surrounding Areas

In neighboring areas, Elkin City Schools show the least number of dropouts, 11, for a rate of 2.47. During the 2006-07 school year, the school system reported 11, for a rate of 2.75.

 

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