The Morgan Hill Unified School District's 2006-07 dropout rate for grades 9-12 was 14.5 percent, lower than Santa Clara County and California's percentages.
"Obviously, you want 100 percent of your kids to graduate," Superintendent Alan Nishino said. "But we're on the right track."
Santa Clara County's dropout rate for the same year was 20.2 percent, while the California dropout rate was 24.2 percent.
California Department of Education spokeswoman Tina Jung said the federal government requests dropout rates for not just the senior year, or twelfth grade, but for all four years of high school - which is why all four are counted in this number.
Santa Clara County Superintendent Charles Weis said his office is prepared to evaluate the alternative education programs it operates in order to determine their effects on students who are at high risk of dropping out, and to do whatever they can to assist county school districts in evaluating their dropout prevention programs.
"Our goal is to bring best practices for preventing dropouts to all of our schools in Santa Clara County," Weis said.
Morgan Hill's neighboring Gilroy Unified School District had a 26.7 percent dropout rate, the second highest in the county, while Los Gatos had the lowest county dropout rate with 1.7 percent. The Alameda City Unified School District, which has a similar number of students as Morgan Hill Unified and also has two high schools, had a dropout rate of 11.2 percent.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell released the data Wednesday.
"Twenty-four percent of students dropping out is not good news," O'Connell said in a statement. "In fact, any student dropping out is one too many, and the data reveal a disturbingly high dropout rate for Latinos and African Americans."
Nishino said the data, which for the first time used individual student identification numbers to track students that left a school, is still not 100 percent accurate. Even with the identification number that follows a student from California public school to California public school, there are still holes in the calculations.
"If a student moves to a private school or out of state, the number doesn't work," Nishino said. "Hopefully, in the future, we can get a better indication. It is important that we track it."
Jung said school districts have until Aug. 28 to give data corrections, and an updated dropout rate will be released in September.
Natalie Everett Natalie Everett covers education and city issues for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106, ext. 201, or neverett@morganhilltimes.com.
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