The Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District has achieved the second lowest dropout rate in the county this past school year with only a .3 percent dropout rate, or eight students out of 8,901.
In an effort to reduce the number of dropouts from California’s public high schools, school districts throughout the state have initiated alternative learning programs during the past 10 years, successfully cutting the dropout rate in half. The California Department of Education announced this month that the statewide dropout rate has continued to decrease this past school year from 4.4 percent in 1994-95 to 3.9 percent in 1995-96.
Brigitte Sarraf, associate superintendent of educational services, said the district has greatly enhanced and broadened its alternative educational programs during the past few years to help more students at risk of failure reach educational standards and succeed.
“We have found that the cookie cutter approach (to teaching) doesn’t work anymore,” Sarraf said. “Our community has become increasingly more diverse over the years and so have the needs of our students. We definitely don’t catch all students, but we are catching a lot of them.”
Sarraf said the district’s seven major programs offer something for students who just don’t fit in or don’t do well in the setting of a large high school. She said the programs serve the extremely talented student, who may wish to study concurrently at a community college, to the student with a chemical dependency, all the way down to the pregnant student who needs a way to continue her education.
Approximately 10 to 12 percent of the district’s student population is involved in an alternative program, Sarraf said. This number also includes students who are attending regular classes concurrently, she said.
Unlike standard classes, the alternative programs are smaller, provide closer supervision, cater to the specific needs of the student population and offer flexibility to keep students interested in learning, Sarraf said. She said all of the alternative programs are required to meet 10th grade reading and writing levels, a district approved standard of performance.
John Duncan, interim district superintendent, said in addition to the excellent variety of programs, Los Altos has a community that supports education.
“We have a very talented student population and a very aggressive parent group with high expectations for their children to do well in school and go on to college. That means a lower dropout rate.”
Duncan said the district is conscious of the fact that a student’s performance is affected by a variety of reasons including maturity level, social skills, or learning abilities. He said students may be affected by their family’s poverty level, whether their family is supportive of education, or whether they are enrolled in the same school district school long enough to follow the rules.
Sarraf said each campus has a student assistant team that helps identify why a student has a low attendance rate or low grades. The team brainstorms to help recommend a program that will most benefit that student, she said.
Kevin (who requested to use his first name only) was a student at Los Altos who dropped out 13 years ago. Working 30 hours a week to help support his family, Kevin was often too exhausted to attend school, he said. By the end of his sophomore year, he was missing an average of three days a week.
He said there were not as many alternatives for students then. Kevin was placed in program he described as “just a place to keep kids off of the streets.”
Two weeks later, Kevin dropped out of school.
“I regret it (dropping out) immensely,” Kevin said. “Everything that I ever wanted to do, I pretty much shot down when I dropped out of school.”
Delaine Eastin, state superintendent of public instruction, said not completing high school has enormous economic implications on individuals. More than 90 percent of today’s new jobs require some sort of post secondary training, she said. Students who don’t graduate from high school can expect to earn approximately $6,500 less a year than those who do graduate.
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