Scully: Haverhill’s Relatively High Student Dropout Rate May be an Error

Haverhill High School. (WHAV News file photograph.)

Haverhill Superintendent of Schools James F. Scully.

State figures showing Haverhill’s relatively high student dropout rate may be inflated by as much as 25 to 50 percent because of an error, the school superintendent believes.

Even though official numbers show the city’s drop-out rate has improved, Superintendent James F. Scully doesn’t have confidence in them. He is undertaking a deeper review of how the figures are compiled.

“People are going to see the dropout rate is not what it is said to be,” he said.

Scully believes many students who simply transferred to other schools are being counted by mistake. He called it a “coding issue.”

“I met with the high school principal and we sat down and we took 200 students over the past couple of years that have allegedly moved. We discovered that many of these students did not just drop out. Many of them have moved to different communities out of state.”

Economist Thomas Granneman highlighted the reported state dropout rate at a forum last spring. (Cindy Driver photograph for WHAV News.)

State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education numbers for the 2015-2016 school year show Haverhill had an average high school dropout rate of 5.9 percent—with 9.1 percent leaving during the freshman year; 4.1 as sophomores, 5.1 as juniors and 4.9 as seniors. However, the state also tracks the cumulative effect of students dropping out over four years—called a cohort adjusted rate—and reported Haverhill with a four-year adjusted dropout rate of 11.3 percent,

The numbers were one focus of an April forum, called Haverhill Community Discussion on School Success. Economist Thomas Granneman highlighted the city’s dropout rate, noting it is higher than other former industrial communities as well as other similar-income cities.

At last week’s School Committee Candidates forum, new challenger Richard Rosa said a high dropout rate is not only an education issue, but a public safety, economic and tax issue.

“Each dropout costs taxpayers $292,000, on average. Eighty percent of people who are incarcerated and 50 percent of people on public assistance are dropouts,” Rosa said.

If he’s blaming the error on anything, Scully said, it is tradition.

“The fault does not lie with the state and the fault doesn’t lie with anybody. The error numbers is the way Haverhill has historically done them, and I always felt they were wrong,” he said.

Scully plans to present his findings at the next school committee meeting.

Another measure of performance, MCAS scores, are also changing. A new protocol means newly released test scores cannot be compared with older ones, causing a reset of the system. New scores, Scully said, show local performance is improving both at individual schools and among special populations of students that have been receiving increased attention. The district expects to receive individual student scores Oct. 24, and will mail them to parents.

2 thoughts on “Scully: Haverhill’s Relatively High Student Dropout Rate May be an Error

  1. “Each dropout costs taxpayers $292,000, on average. Eighty percent of people who are incarcerated and 50 percent of people on public assistance are dropouts,” Rosa said.

    To suggest the link between incarceration and lack of receiving a public school education is quite a stretch. I would think parenting, or the lack of, has a lot more to do with it.

    As for 50% of those incarcerated receiving public assistance, here’s an idea…stop financially rewarding failure!

  2. “The district expects to receive individual student scores Oct. 24, and will mail them to parents.” –

    Scores are out. The good news? We’re not Springfield. The bad news? Only 83% of students are proficient in English, 66% in math, and only 65% in science. What a complete embarrassment.

    Way to go city “leaders”, especially Mayor Jimmy and his quest to continue to attract the lowest common denominator of our society. Or worse, roll out the welcoming mat to Invaders, who their children by law must be educated, and illiterate in their own language. Haverhill is “on the move” right Mayor Jimmy?

    The ONLY reason why anyone would want to come to Haverhill is because it is relative cheap. Sure not moving here for the school system or low crime rates. Of course, those making the decisions for the city don’t actually live in the parts of the city where it can be compared to an Americanized Third World country.