University of California researchers are taking on the issue of high school dropouts. They've launched a project that will look at the economic and social costs associated with dropping out of school. From Sacramento, Jenny O'Mara reports.
The California Dropout Research Project, based at UC Santa Barbara, is launching a series of studies -- the first of which will be released next month. Director Russell Rumberger says concerns about future workers -- and estimates of their education level -- are driving the project.
Rumberger : It suggests we're going to have many more undereducated workers than we have positions for them, so the state faces a huge challenge in getting these students educated so they can be productive citizens and contribute to the welfare of the state.
Rumberger says the sixteen studies will include a profile of dropouts. He says researchers will also examine what kinds of data the state needs to collect to put out accurate estimates of how many dropouts there are in California. The State Department of Education is developing a new way to keep track of students, to be started in 2008.
In Sacramento, I’m Jenny O’Mara.
