Reply #151: "Why do you think kids drop out of school?

[suffragette]

It is because the school does not meet their needs."

Although that can be one factor, it is fair from the only one or even the main one, particularly for economically disadvantaged students.

proud2BlibKansan gave a concise and clear explanation in another thread:
http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7830386

The dropout rate for Central Falls includes students whose parents were deported after an immigration raid in New Bedford, Mass. It also includes students who transferred when the honors program at Central Falls was eliminated.

Time for a mini lesson on how dropout rates are commonly figured: The number of graduating seniors is compared to the number of freshman who started in this class 3 years earlier. So if you have 100 freshman and 80 graduate 3 years later, your dropout rate is 20%. But what happened to those 20 who didn't graduate is not taken into consideration. If they transferred to a different high school and graduated, they are still counted as dropouts at the school where they were 9th graders. And in low income areas where schools have a high transient population rate, there is almost always a high dropout rate. Surprise!

Other factors can include dropping out to take a job to assist the family or working so many part-time jobs that you're so exhausted you skip class. Moving frequently takes another toll. Each time, a student has to adjust not only to different curricula, but also to different social conditions and being the new kid in school. And conditions in poor neighborhoods can be very harsh.

None of these complexities are being taken into account by the new standardized systems.
If anything, it appears that the public schools are being held to stricter accountability than charter or privately funded ones. And that accountability is not taking critical factors into account.