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Improved Measurement of High School Dropout and Completion Rates:
Expert Guidance on Next Steps for Research and Policy
The Center for Education, in collaboration with the National Academy of Education, proposes to conduct a two-day workshop to discuss issues surrounding The Center for Education, in collaboration with the National Academy of Education, proposes to conduct a two-day workshop to discuss issues surrounding the accurate measurement of high school dropout rates. The workshop will provide an opportunity to learn more about the state of research on dropout rates and for exploring the feasibility and desirability of new techniques for measuring high school dropout and completion rates that are timely, complete, scientifically sound, and useful for decision making at different levels, including person based longitudinal tracking systems.
The workshop will feature papers and discussions among experts in education research and policy, including national education statistics experts; policy makers at the national, state, and local levels; scholars with expertise in school-leaving processes and minority education, as well as state and local data system experts.
Following the workshop, the committee will prepare a workshop report with recommendations that will be disseminated to federal and state education officials, education scholars, advocacy groups and educators.
It is anticipated that among the questions guiding this workshop will be:
- What are the prevalent measures of school dropout rates and how are they determined? What are their strengths and limitations in terms of conceptual soundness, population coverage, spatial and temporal comparability, technical accuracy, usefulness for policy and decision making at different governmental levels, and feasibility of implementation? What alternatives have been proposed to these existing measures and what are their strengths and limitations?
- How much accuracy is needed in measuring the incidence of dropping out for the different types of policy decisions at the state, district, school, and student levels? To what extent do current and proposed measures attain the necessary levels of accuracy? What are the consequences of inaccuracies in the measurement of dropout rates?
- What is the state of the art with respect to longitudinal student accounting systems for measuring dropout rates and integrated data systems that include student background characteristics, instructional experiences, and assessment data? What is the feasibility and desirability of moving to such systems?
- How can the analysis of data from current and proposed systems for measuring dropout rates permit us to understand causes of change in dropout rates such as: testing and accountability requirements; access to alternative credentials; changing student populations and social contexts
- How could such information facilitate the development of improved public policies?
The project is sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the National Academies.
The approximate start date for the project is August 1, 2007.
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Date
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Event
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Location
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Meeting Materials
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June 6, 2008
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Steering Committee Workshop Planning Meeting
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Rosemont, IL
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October 23-24, 2008
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Workshop
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Washington, DC
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AGENDA
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MEMBERSHIP:
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Robert Hauser (Chair), University of Wisconsin, Madison
Elaine Allensworth, University of Chicago, IL
G. Lavan Dukes, Florida Department of Education, Tallahassee
Kenji Hakuta, Stanford University, CA
Russell Rumberger, University of California, Santa Barbara
J. Robert Warren, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Patricia Wright, Virginia Department of Education, Richmond
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