Attrition in City High Schools

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By comparing the number of students in 12th grade with the number of students in 9th grade, researchers determined the “promoting power” of schools as a way to study high school compensation rates.
School District	Total Number of Sampled High Schools	Number Schools With <50% Promoting Power	Percent Schools With <50% Promoting Power
Indianapolis	5	5	100.0
El Paso, Texas	8	7	87.5
Detroit	22	17	77.3
Dallas	24	18	75.0
San Antonio	8	6	75.0
Milwaukee	15	11	73.3
Houston	25	18	72.0
Philadelphia	33	22	66.7
Columbus	17	11	64.7
New York City	100	64	64.0
Austin, Texas	10	6	60.0
Chicago	61	36	59.0
Baltimore	16	9	56.3
Fort Worth	11	6	54.6
Denver	10	5	50.0
Oklahoma City	8	4	50.0
Cleveland	13	5	38.5
District of Columbia	15	5	33.3
Nashville-Davidson County, Tenn.	13	4	30.8
Kansas City	10	3	30.0
Tucson, Ariz.	10	3	30.0
Duval County, Fla.	18	5	27.8
Orleans Parish, La.	18	4	22.2
Portland, Ore.	10	2	20.0
Memphis, Tenn.	27	4	14.8
San Diego	18	2	11.1
Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C.	11	1	9.1
San Francisco	12	1	8.3
Boston	15	1	67
Long Beach, Calif.	6	0	0
Phoenix Union High, Ariz.	8	0	0
San Jose, Calif.	6	0	0
Seattle	10	0	0
Virginia Beach, Va.	9	0	0
NOTE: The 14 studies are available online at www.law.harvard.edu/groups/civilrights/publications/dropout.html. SOURCE: “How Many Central City Schools Have a Severe Dropout Problem, Where Are They Located, and Who Attends Them?” by Robert Balfanz and Netti Legters of the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.