Self Reported Capacity of State Education Agencies To Provide Standard Dropout Data.

As a step in considering the addition of dropout statistics to the Common Core of Data (CCD) collected by the National Center for Education Statistics, telephone and personal interviews about the feasibility of implementing a standard national dropout statistics collection were conducted. Interviews were held from May through September of 1990 with different survey instruments for 30 participating states and 24 nonparticipating states. Open-ended and forced-choice questions were included to identify perceived barriers to and incentives for full-scale implementation of dropout statistic collection. Twenty-eight participating states believed that the data collection was feasible for statewide implementation. Nineteen of the non-participants reflected a similar attitude, responding that there were no serious barriers to providing dropout data if such an item was added to the CCD. Major areas to be addressed before adding a dropout statistic to the CCD include: (1) logistical problems in data collection and reporting; (2) problems of complicated and rigorous definition of dropouts; (3) determining the possibility of assessing the status of school leavers with sufficient accuracy to provide a reliable dropout count through school district records; (4) problems of classifying school leavers as dropouts with sufficient comparability when state policies and procedures differ; and (5) determining the effects of differences in operations among state agencies. Four tables present the survey results. (SLD)