
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 5, 1991                   TAG: 9104050750
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SCHOOL DROPOUT RATE DECREASES IN STATE

State figures indicate Virginia's dropout rate fell from 4.8 percent to 4 percent last year, the first in which no school system in the state had a double-digit rate.

"Obviously, we're very pleased at the reductions in the dropout rates," state Education Secretary James W. Dyke Jr. said. "We've been putting a lot of emphasis on that problem. But there's still a lot of work to be done."

Petersburg and Richmond, the cities with the highest dropout rates in 1988-89, cut them by at least one-third for the 1989-90 period last year.

Petersburg's rate went from 13.1 percent to 8 percent, and Richmond's dropped from 12.6 percent to 8.4 percent.

Virginia Beach, the state's largest city, also cut its rate by nearly one-third - from 7.3 percent to 5 percent.

Virginia's dropout rate measures the number of pupils in seventh through 12th grades in September 1989 but not enrolled as of October 1990.

Dyke attributed Virginia's decline partly to state aid for dropout-prevention programs, which will reach $10.3 million next year.

State money, he said, helps fund programs like Lynchburg's Pride Center, which brings dropouts back with alternative classes and part-time jobs.

But not everyone is ready to say the declining rates prove fewer pupils are dropping out. Instead, they could reflect more diligent record-keeping.

"Nearly all of Virginia Beach's decrease can be attributed flat to just doing a better job of counting the kids," School Board member Gerald Gibbs said.

by CNB