dropout rates

(noun)

Dropout rates are a measurement of the proportion of students who drop out, that is, who leave a school for practical reasons, necessities, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves.

Related Terms

Examples of dropout rates in the following topics:

  • Unequal Access to Education

    • Thus, sociologists have observed that dropout rates vary among different social groups.
    • For instance, dropout rates are lowest among Asian Americans, followed closely by whites.
    • Thus, sociologists have observed that dropout rates vary among different social groups.
    • For instance, dropout rates are lowest among Asian Americans, followed closely by whites.
    • In part, the disparities in dropout rates may be a symptom of disparities in access to high quality education.

  • High School Dropouts

    • Dropouts have a greater likelihood of being arrested.
    • Students may also be at risk for dropout based on social risk factors.
    • Dropout rates also vary geographically, with the lowest rates in northern states.
    • The highest dropout rates occur in the south and southwestern United States.
    • Finally, some education researchers have noted that dropout rates may have been exacerbated by policies such as the U.S.

  • Institutional Prejudice or Discrimination

    • This disparity include standardized test scores, grade point average, dropout rates and college enrollment and/or completion rates.

  • English as a Second Language

    • Their higher dropout rates may be due to difficulties in keeping up in mainstream classes or to prior interruptions in their formal education.

  • Crime Statistics

    • The figures below and to the right show that rape rates in the U.S. have declined in recent years and also compare rape rates from select countries around the world.
    • Serving time in prison has become a normative event for young, lower-class African-American males.The average African-American, male, high-school dropout born in the 1960s in the U.S. had a nearly 60% chance of serving time in prison by the end of the 1990s.
    • ratio of African-American incarceration rate to European-American incarceration rate - 8 to 1
    • The chart below tracks homicide rates in the U.S. for the past 100 years.
    • The U.S. does not have the highest homicide rates in the world, but the rates in the U.S. are still relatively high compared to other countries (see chart).

  • Education

    • The educational attainment of the U.S. population parallels that of many other industrialized countries, with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates outnumbering high school dropouts.

  • The Demographic Transition

    • The demographic transition is a model and theory describing the transition from high birth rates and death rates to low birth and death rates that occurs as part of the economic development of a country.
    • In most post-industrial societies, birth and death rates are both low.
    • The transition from high rates to low rates is referred to as the demographic transition.
    • This is depicted in the diagram when death rates fall in stage two but birth rates do not fall until stage three.
    • By the end of stage three, birth rates drop to fall in line with the lower death rates.

  • Fertility

    • There are a number of different approaches to measuring fertility rate—such as crude birth rate (CBR), general fertility rate (GFR), child-woman ratio (CWR), total fertility rate (TFR), gross reproduction rate (GRR), and net reproduction rate (NRR).
    • TFR equals the sum for all age groups of 5 times each ASFR rate.
    • The TFR (or TPFR—total period fertility rate) is a better index of fertility than the crude birth rate because it is independent of the age structure of the population, but it is a poorer estimate of actual completed family size than the total cohort fertility rate.
    • Gross reproduction rate (GRR) is the number of girl babies who would be born to a woman completing her reproductive life at current age-specific fertility rates.
    • The birth rate is an issue of concern for many governments and policymakers.

  • Mortality

    • This measure is also called the crude death rate.
    • To more accurately estimate mortality rates, demographers calculate age and gender specific mortality rates.
    • These rates are compiled in a life table, which shows the mortality rate separate for each age group and gender.
    • Overall, developing countries tend to have higher mortality rates, higher infant mortality rates, and lower life expectancies.
    • Explain the various ways mortality is calculated, such as the crude death rate, infant mortality rate and life expectancy

  • Population Trends

    • The world population growth rate was estimated at 1.1% per year as of 2011, a rate which has declined since its peak during the 1950s–1970s.
    • The demographic transition refers to the shift from high birth rates and death rates to low birth and death rates; this occurs as part of the economic development of a country.
    • The basic premises of the theory are as follows: in pre-industrial societies, population growth is relatively slow because both birth and death rates are high; as countries develop, death rates fall faster than birth rates do, resulting in large population growth; as development stabilizes, birth rates drop off and the population stabilizes .
    • Once countries pass through the demographic transition, some experience fertility rate decreases so substantial that they fall well below replacement level—the birth rate needed to maintain a stable population—and their populations begin to shrink.
    • Malthus argued for population control—policies intended to lower the birth rate—to avoid this happening.