Report: 286 students leave public high schools yearly

A tracking report completed by the Public School System disclosed that nearly 300 students leave public high schools every year, reducing the number of cohort students expected to graduate four years later.

Cohorts are students who enroll in Grade 9 at various public high schools on Tinian, Rota and Saipan and go on to finish Grade 12 after four straight years.

Public school records showed that, from school year 2001-2008, an average of 286 students leave high school each year.

Additionally, the average number of students who graduated from PSS during the eight-year period is 575 annually.

“The average percentage of cohort students that graduated between 2001 and 2008 is 65 percent,” the PSS report stated.

Yesterday, Education Commissioner Dr. Rita A. Sablan said the decline in the number of cohorts is attributed to the significant volume of high school students who relocate off island with their families due to the bad economy of the Commonwealth.

“A lot of our students exited public schools due to relocation of their families while other students moved out from our schools and transferred to other schools,” she told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

School dropouts also add to the high rate of decline in cohorts.

PSS records showed that of the 761 ninth graders enrolled in school year 2001, only 415 completed and graduated from their high school. Almost the same figure was noted in school year 2002 when there were 422 graduates of the 746 registered in all five public high schools.

In school year 2003-2004, high school enrollment posted a significant increase of almost a hundred students. However, only 575 of the 848 enrollees that year completed their secondary education four years later.

A slight increase in enrollment for high school was recorded in SY 2004-2005 when PSS accommodated a total of 861 ninth graders. Of this number, only 614 completed high school after four years.

A total of 906 high school students were enrolled in the following school year but only 670 graduated four years later.

In 2006, the number continued to drop, with only 643 cohort graduates out of the registered 931 in the same year.

PSS recorded last school year the highest number of ninth-grade enrollees at 979. Of the figure, PSS noted only 690 students who graduated in the cohorts.

Although actual data for the present school year is still unavailable, Sablan expressed optimism that the number will not show a significant decline.

PSS early this year terminated its Advanced Development Institute, a program that assists dropouts complete their high school education and obtain a diploma.

She encouraged students who “exited” the system for one reason or another to enroll in the Adult Basic Education program offered at the Northern Marianas College.