Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/587184
Middle schoolers drop out for var- ious reasons. They may struggle in their classes, lose interest in school, join gangs, have problems at home, or suffer bullying. They may be taking care of a sick relative or younger sib- lings while their parents work. M a t h h a s b e c o m e m u c h m o r e difficult at the middle school level, and some educators — including Kimberly Montsinger, a math and study skills teacher at Woodland Hills Academy — think it's a factor. not been doing her assign- ments from home or meeting with her teacher as required. (Independent study, an alternative program for stu- dents who have conflicts in attending public school on a daily basis, requires one hour of direct one-on-one instruc- tion per week with a teacher at an LAUSD campus.) Her father offers excuses. S h e c a n ' t w a k e u p . S h e doesn't like school. Geome- try is difficult, so she can't do her homework. Palacios points out that Dianna is not doing her schoolwork in English, social studies and other subjects, either. She has also stopped meeting with her therapist. Dianna and her father recently attended a School Attendance Review Board (SARB) hearing with school officials and a representative of the district attorney's office about the unexcused absences. If she continues to miss school, her father could be fined or arrested, because state law requires students to attend school until 18. Dianna continues staring at her feet. She mumbles that she'll try to do better. Her father says he'll be stricter. But Dianna is at risk of joining the numbers of middle school dropouts in California, says Palacios, a member of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA). AN OVERLOOKED PROBLEM The majority of dropouts leave in high school, but thousands never make it to ninth grade. With most prevention and recovery efforts focused on high school, middle schoolers often slip through the cracks. In 2011, California became the first state to acknowledge middle school dropouts — with 17,257 eighth-grade students exiting the school system at that time, which was a 3.49 percent dropout rate. Currently, the state does not track the number of middle school dropouts. Legislation passed in 2009 requires the state to compare all students who start in seventh grade to those who enroll in high school two years later to track them, but it's an unfunded mandate and it hasn't happened. Black students and Latino students (like Dianna) are the most heavily impacted, with high school graduation rates of 76 percent and 68 percent respectively, in 2013. Woodland Hills Academy teacher Kimberly Montsinger, right, works with Nyah Villareal-James. Willis Jepson Middle School works on ways to motivate students with attendance problems. 32 cta.org F E A T U R E