The data on the State Education Department web site suggest that we have a dropout problem.
The state has it's own definition of "dropout":
A dropout is an individual who: (1) Was enrolled in school at some time during the previous school year and was not enrolled on October 1 of the current school (2) Was not enrolled on October 1 of the previous school year although expected to be in membership; and (3) Has not graduated from high school or completed a state- or district-approved educational program; and (4) Does not meet any of the following exclusionary conditions: (i) Transfer to another public school district, private school, or state- or district-approved education program; (ii) Temporary school-recognized absence due to suspension or illness; (iii) Death.
Here are the State's data on the 2006-07 dropouts as a percentage of the Grade 7-12 enrollment, by school division, ranked from worst first:
Richmond is the gold bar, with a 3.99% dropout rate vs. a state average of 1.86%. The green bars, from the left, are Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hanover. The blue line is the state average.
Here are the numbers for the "leaders":
| Division | Dropouts | Membership | % Dropouts |
| Petersburg | 169 | 2,259 | 7.48 |
| Lee | 94 | 1,641 | 5.73 |
| Hopewell | 85 | 1,698 | 5.01 |
| Buckingham | 54 | 1,081 | 5 |
| Lunenburg | 39 | 799 | 4.88 |
| Portsmouth | 317 | 6,745 | 4.7 |
| Franklin | 32 | 681 | 4.7 |
| Cumberland | 31 | 722 | 4.29 |
| Richmond City | 406 | 10,167 | 3.99 |
| Colonial Heights | 50 | 1,354 | 3.69 |
| Accomack | 92 | 2,516 | 3.66 |
| Danville | 115 | 3,155 | 3.65 |
| Roanoke City | 202 | 5,544 | 3.64 |
| Suffolk | 211 | 6,239 | 3.38 |
| Alexandria | 136 | 4,208 | 3.23 |
| Southampton | 47 | 1,458 | 3.22 |
| Manassas | 91 | 2,857 | 3.19 |
| Norfolk | 447 | 14,474 | 3.09 |
| Charlottesville | 58 | 1,922 | 3.02 |
| Westmoreland | 27 | 902 | 2.99 |
|
* * * |
|||
|
State |
10,540 | 567,547 | 1.86 |
Richmond's dropout rate has bounced around a lot:
| Year | Richmond |
| 1997 | 6.52% |
| 1998 | 5.49% |
| 1999 | 4.34% |
| 2000 | 3.54% |
| 2001 | 2.81% |
| 2002 | 2.71% |
| 2003 | 12.14% |
| 2004 | 15.27% |
| 2005 | 4.45% |
| 2006 | 2.46% |
| 2007 | 3.99% |
Or in terms of a graph:
We could speculate about the large bump in the Richmond rate. For sure, the Norfolk data are not credible: Their graduation rate is even worse than Richmond's scandalous rate:
It may well be that the drop in Richmond dropouts since 2004 indicates that Richmond has begun to use the same creative accounting that Norfolk seems to have perfected.
In any event, these data tell one consistent story: Richmond is boosting its SOL performance by getting rid of the poorer performers.