Hispanic boys have lowest grad rate in DPS

Only 19 percent in 8th grade in 2001 finished high school

Nancy Mitchell And Burt Hubbard, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Fewer than one in five Hispanic boys enrolled in Denver middle schools graduates from a city high school five years after starting eighth grade, an analysis by the Rocky Mountain News has found.

Only 19 percent of Hispanic male eighth-graders enrolled in Denver Public Schools in fall 2001 graduated from a DPS high school in spring 2006, the lowest rate of any student group analyzed in the study.

That figure is a three-year low for Hispanic boys and reflects the overall trends found in the Rocky study: Fewer DPS eighth-graders are sticking it out in city high schools and graduating from DPS. The overall high school graduation rate for students who were eighth-graders in fall 2001 was 30 percent.

The good news is that fewer students are dropping out of DPS. The dropout figure fell from 37 percent for eighth-graders enrolled in fall 1999 to 23 percent for the eighth-grade class of 2001.

Instead, the analysis found, more students are transferring out of DPS schools - 33 percent in the most recent study - and more are attending a fifth year of high school. The still-in-school figure now stands at 14 percent.

"I don't think any of us are satisfied with the graduation rates," DPS Superintendent -Michael Bennet said. "The data isn't all that different than the data we have seen before.

"We need to do a better job at high school of inspiring kids to stay in school, and I don't think that's just a DPS question," he said. "I think that's a community question as well. In Denver, we have to raise our expectations for the school district and for the kids and say, 'It's critical for you to graduate.' "

It's uncertain if students who leave DPS are graduating or dropping out of other schools because neither DPS nor the Colorado Department of Education keeps track of them.

Also, the eventual outcomes of those students still in school will change graduation or, more likely, dropout figures. The study found most students in high school for more than four years end up dropping out.

"What's clear is not enough kids are making the transition from middle years to ninth grade," Bennet said. "And then not enough kids are seeing the point in staying in school and getting their degree."

Income, gender, ethnicity

The Rocky analysis, completed annually, now has tracked three consecutive eighth-grade classes through high school graduation - or not - in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Among the findings:

• Hispanic boys, the least likely to graduate, begin falling behind their classmates in their freshman year of high school and never catch up. Just 72 percent of Hispanic boys ended their first year of high school at grade level. That figure drops to 61 percent by their junior year of high school.

• Income continues to be a key factor in high school graduation. Of the DPS eighth-graders in fall 2001 not eligible for federal lunch assistance, 51 percent graduated on time from a Denver high school. That figure drops to about half - 26 percent graduating on time - for eighth-graders receiving lunch aid.

• Girls continue to top boys in graduation rates, with 34 percent of girls in the tracked eighth- grade classes graduating on time compared with 27 percent of boys.

• Asian boys were the most likely eighth-graders to graduate on time in spring 2006, followed by Anglo girls, Asian girls, black girls and Anglo boys. Hispanic girls, unlike Hispanic boys, have increased their graduation rate.

Problems in ninth grade

Julian Gonzalez, 17, who dropped out of high school as a sophomore, began the downward spiral as many students do - with trouble in the ninth grade.

Gonzalez said he did fine at DPS' Valdez Elementary, Horace Mann Middle and even, initially, at North High School. But by the end of his first semester at North, he had failed five of his seven classes. His second semester was worse.

"I didn't feel prepared for North," he said, citing math as a particular struggle.

The Rocky analysis found only 79 percent of DPS eighth- graders in fall 2001 had earned enough academic credits to be classified as sophomores when they began their second year of high school.

That means 21 percent - or one in five - fell behind in their first year.

"We have to catch them earlier than that," Bennet said, citing a number of strategies in the district reform plan, the Denver Plan. That includes double classes of math and literacy for struggling students.

Students see their futures

Perhaps no DPS school, though, has attacked the issue with the fervor of KIPP Cole College Prep Charter Middle School in north Denver. A majority of students are Hispanic and poor. But on Friday, in a hotel ballroom, they celebrated getting into some of the city's top high schools, including Kent Denver and Bishop Machebeuf.

"Nobody, nobody, expected us to get these type of results," a jubilant Principal Richard Harrison told his 39 eighth-graders.

For Alfredo Macias, who will attend the rigorous Denver School of Science and Technology Charter this fall, middle school did not begin well. He got into "beefs with other boys" at Kunsmiller Middle School until his aunt switched him to KIPP Cole.

There, Harrison and his teachers pounded home the college prep message. They selected the public and private high schools they deemed truly "college preparatory," learned the admissions requirements and ensured their students were being prepared.

Then they had students shadow others enrolled at the schools, fill out financial aid forms and go through admissions interviews.

All of that made Macias, 14, think seriously about his future. He plans to be the first in his family to go to college.

He's already proven he can handle the longer school days at KIPP Cole, which runs from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m., and believes he's prepared for the long days ahead at DSST, one of only two Denver high schools rated excellent by the state.

"I really want that life, the good life," Macias said. "If I go to college, I'm going to be able to say yes to whatever my kids want. I'll be able to have a better life without breaking my back."

Still, the Rocky analysis shows the odds are greater that Hispanic boys in DPS will travel the path of Gonzalez, who struggled in high school.

The teen left North High School as a sophomore, in fall 2005, after his grades slid and he began ditching school. He spent a few weeks at Ranum High School, in the Westminster school district, before dropping out altogether.

He since has enrolled at Life Skills Charter School in Denver, one of two DPS programs catering to dropouts.

Proof of what's possible

Bennet said DPS is exploring more alternative programs, including expanding its night high school.

But he said he is optimistic that DPS can improve its traditional schools and its graduation rate - for all students.

Juan Carlos Valles, 18, is proof that it is possible.

Sunday, Valles delivered the valedictorian's speech for the graduating class of North High School. He will attend the University of Denver this fall on a Daniels Fund scholarship and hopes to become an engineer.

A native Spanish speaker who came to the United States at age 2, Valles said annual trips back to his parents' poor village in Mexico sharpened their message.

"They've been telling me all my life, here you have more opportunities than we ever did," he said.

But college was not a given - his father builds fences, his mother cleans a bank and he has three siblings, so money is tight.

"I knew I wanted to go" to college, he said, "but I didn't know how I was going to get there."

Then, as a sophomore, he learned about a college prep program at North called Minds Matter. That helped him get summer experiences at colleges and financial help. He also plans to be the first in his family to finish college.

"Life is difficult," he told his classmates Sunday. "Nobody is going to come up to you with a lifetime supply of money. You've got to work for everything you want."

Denver's high schools

A breakdown of Denver high school students who started ninth grade in 2002 - ranked by graduation rate

School Total Grads Dropouts Transfers Still in school

School Arts 107 68% 10% 20% 2%

TJ 317 55% 15% 24% 7%

GW 462 50% 16% 24% 10%

East 423 50% 16% 22% 12%

JFK 488 46% 10% 30% 14%

South 326 41% 10% 34% 14%

West 585 35% 24% 25% 17%

Montbello 445 32% 28% 27% 13%

North 527 25% 31% 30% 14%

Lincoln 439 n/a* 20% 37% n/a*Lincoln'S Graduation Rate Is Skewed Lower By A Program That Allows Some Students To Take College Courses As Long As The School Withholds Their H ...

A comparison of classes

   Eighth grade in the fall of

1999 2000 2001

Total in class 5,633 5,944 5,802

Graduated 1,884 1,817 1,749 33% 31% 30%

Dropped out 2,109 1,546 1,336 37% 26% 23%

Transferred 1,171 1,877 1,900 21% 32% 33%

Still in school 404 704 817 7% 12% 14%

BY GENDER

Male 2,891 3,041 2,977 Graduated 843 825 796 29% 27% 27%

Female 2,742 2,903 2,825 Graduated 1,041 992 953 38% 34% 34%

BY ETHNICITY

Hispanic 2,786 3,052 3,098 Graduated 759 701 702 27% 23% 23% Black 1,228 1,263 1,207 Graduated 412 453 429 34% 36% 36% White 1,331 1,370 1,228 Graduated 600 571 512 45% 42% 42% Asian 189 156 181 Graduated 95 75 88 50% 48% 49% American Indian 86 91 81 Graduated 18 16 18 21% 18% 22%

mitchelln@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5245