Are you kidding me with that statistic?  I was born in California, raised in California, educated in California and I teach in California and if that statistic is anywhere near accurate I am really out of touch with the California educational system.  I think that statistic is way off.  I am not 100% sure how they compile that data but that 25% seems really high to me.  

Let's start by defining what a "drop out" is.  To me, a "drop out" is a student who leaves high school and does not transfer, re-enter or go onto higher education.

Here are some potential problems with the data:

Are they somehow counting kids who transfer schools as "drop outs"?  California has an extremely high number of children of migrant  workers who move every season and maybe these students are somehow being counted as "drop outs".

Are students who graduate early being counted as "drop outs"?

Are girls who get pregnant and take a year off being counted as "drop outs"?

I realize that there may be a few schools in California with unusually high drop out rates but for every one of those schools there are four or five schools with xtremely low drop out rates so I don't see how the drop out rate can stay at 25%.  I have pasted the text of the L.A. Times articles that stated the statistic below.  I have also included a few of the comments that readers submitted so that you can get an idea about what the public thinks about the article.

Be sure to note that the State of California is spending $33 million over the next 3 years to track (not educate) where these students are going.

1 in 4 California high school students drop out

Using a new system for tracking dropouts, California discloses a rate considerably higher than previously reported. About 1 in 3 students in Los Angeles Unified left school.

Deploying a long-promised tool to track high school dropouts, the state released numbers Wednesday estimating that 1 in 4 California students -- and 1 in 3 in Los Angeles -- quit school. The rates are considerably higher than previously acknowledged but lower than some independent estimates.

The figures are based on a new statewide tracking system that relies on identification numbers that were issued to California public school students beginning in fall 2006.

The new system -- which will cost $33 million over the next three years, in addition to the millions spent for the initial development -- promises to eventually provide a far better way to understand where students go, and why. But state and school district officials acknowledged that the data initially available Wednesday, after a final one-day delay, were limited in usefulness.

Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, presented the new data, based on the 2006-07 school year, as a quantum leap forward in understanding the nature of the dropout problem. But, he said, "no one will argue that the number of dropouts is good news. . . . It represents an enormous loss of potential."

For the state overall, it was 24.2%, up substantially from the 13.9% calculated for the previous school year using an older, discredited method. Statewide, 67.6% of students graduated and 8.2% were neither graduates nor dropouts. The last category included those who transferred to private schools or left the state.

Even using the old system of measurement, he said, the number of dropouts has grown by 83% over five years while the number of high school graduates has gone up only 9%.

For Los Angeles Unified, the new dropout rate was 33.6%. The rate was 25.3% under the old system in 2005-06.

O'Connell chose Birmingham High School in Van Nuys for his announcement, noting that it was the focus of a Times series on dropouts in 2006. He said he was particularly concerned by data showing a dropout rate of 41.6% for black students and 30.3% for Latino students, compared with 15.2% for whites and 10.2% for Asians.

Among large, comprehensive L.A. high schools, the highest dropout rates were recorded at Jefferson, 58%; Belmont, 56%; Locke, 50.9%; Crenshaw, 50%; and Roosevelt, 49.6%.

Those with the lowest rates were Palisades Charter High, 2.5%; Granada Hills Charter, 6.4%; Canoga Park, 11%; Cleveland, 12.8%; El Camino, 13%; Taft, 13.1%; Chatsworth, 14.5%; and Fairfax, 14.9%.

Discussion

How can schools solve the dropout problem?

6. Problem? What problem? Technically I "dropped out" in my sophomore year. I didn't have much of a choice: I had been labeled "TROUBLED" and it was clear they wanted me gone. Six years later I graduated from UC Irvine at 22. High school is a joke. The last two years should be phased out and replaced by the junior college system, so that academically gifted students can earn real college credits and mechanically gifted students can focus on valuable trades. High school isn't attracting students because IT DOES NOT LEAD TO JOBS, period, and it gets you no closer to university than 2 years at a community college would.

Submitted by: High school is a waste

9:04 PM PDT, July 16, 2008

10. They just don't get it! The reason why the drop out rate and failure rate is so high is because this stupid state has a one shoe fits all mind set! NOt every kid is going to college. Bring back Vocational and Business Education that are meaningful course that reinforce the basics! You will see your drop out rate reduce and we will have folks inthe trades!!!

Submitted by: Business Ed Teacher

7:53 PM PDT, July 16, 2008

16. it's not a racist thing. it's a priority issue...families who put education first have children who do well in school, shocking actually graduate HS and go to college

Submitted by: darzaga

7:33 PM PDT, July 16, 2008

21. How about changing the assumption by the Times and others that it's the schools' fault. For example: "Back to Basics: Why Does High School Fail So Many?" If even 50% of kids can go to a school and get an education, what's wrong with the rest of them? Why is it the public's responsibility to make them successful?

Submitted by: Timon

6:49 PM PDT, July 16, 2008

23. I don't see how anyone can blame the schools. I place blame with the parents. My child had a perfect math SAT score and is going to an IVY league school next fall and he is a product of the public schools. The only thing I can say is that I really stressed as a child that my kids be considerate and kind too all people at all times no matter black white gay straight, much to my chagrin as I saw him taken advantaged of by his less well raised classmates. I make sure all my kids play sports or are involved in something productive. Now I'm so happy that he's going to the college of his choice.

Submitted by: My kid is going to BROWN next fall!

6:48 PM PDT, July 16, 2008

26. Today's Times has an article that quotes the kids themselves for the answer: it's parents, people. Schools aren't failing, parents are. And throwing more money at it isn't helping. (A 1-to-10 teacher/student ratio? Are you kidding? We had 1-50 in my parochial school and we virtually all graduated. Why? Because our parents made sure we showed up and did our work.) It's not so much that our folks were well-educated --they weren't in our working class area. But they were well-brought-up.

Submitted by: Malby

28. I can't blame the kids, but I can blame the parents! This basically means 1/4 of the parents out here are failing and don't deserve to have kids! This makes me so mad. What kind of community are we creating? An uneducated one!

Submitted by: 25% of all Parents failing!

6:36 PM PDT, July 16, 2008

30. So, SCruz, sounds like you are at Pali High on a "diversity permit" and like how they treat you in a "culturally sensitive" way. Whites who live in the district are NOT guaranteed admission anymore to that school, the best h s in the city, despite a steep decline -- Latinos esp'ly illegal immigrants have a far lower educ. level & prof. level even into the 3rd gen, partly cuz you demand "culturally sensitive" curricula instead of learning English/math/US history. Latinos take WAY more out of all public systems than they pay in: county hospitals, welfare, schools (3/4 of their kids get free lunch as indicator), with MUCHO kids.

Submitted by: Skeptical Taxpayer

33. How can schools solve the dropout problem? Ask Palisades High School, where kids are treated by teachers like they LIKE THE KIDS. Ask the charter school where people actually EARN THEIR PAY. Ask the parents who are treated with respect by the school staff and encouraged to engage in their child's education in a way that is dignified and culturally-sensitive. MOST IMPORTANTLY: Ask the kids and they will tell you.

Submitted by: SCruz

6:12 PM PDT, July 16, 2008

34. Norwalk La-Mirada Unified School District consistantly shows graduation rates in the highest 90%. It has been a mockery. The Norwalk, CA community, faculty, staff and students know it is not so. 600 to 700 freshmen entered the Norwalk high school campuses. Graduation numbers were 300 to 400. Administration, when questioned said, "there are formulas - if we cannot find them - they did not dropout." Talk about a 1960's "credibility gap!" Staff soon accept a 1920's expression- "the only liar worse than a politician ... is an educational administrator."

Submitted by: ABC

6:12 PM PDT, July 16, 2008

37. 70% of teen births are Latino in CA. 50% of illegals are illiterate in Spanish, almost all with no education. Labor is prized over school. They pass this on to their ‘American’ children. They come from an agrarian economy, and don’t understand our information based, education-focused economy. They have families they can’t afford to spend time with. The culture of low expectations, peer pressure to not “be Gringo/Asian” by doing well in school, exists. No immigrant group in history has had more pandering, government-funded, NGO and charity assistance than the current Latino immigrants to CA. Where are the results? Stop importing poverty. Now

43. Although we hate to admit it, blacks and whites never started out at the same starting gate. It was only a few decades ago that Blacks were under Jim Crowe and given inferior education. There was never a program to close that gap so you have parents who can't help kids with homework from generation one generation to the next. Now illegals are over crowding black's schools. So no wonder there's a gap.

59. So much for the purpose of journalism: To inform the masses. One thing to consider is that we all know that if white kids were main cause of these stupid actions, the ethnicity break-out would have been discussed in the first paragraph. That's you first clue. Your second clue is that Mayor Villaraigosa, who won his election based on whoring himself to the Latino agenda, is angry and defensive about these numbers as he knows this finding will beg the question of which ethnic community is being the worthless loser. Of course Villaraigosa is going to attack what we all know to be the obvious to secure his voting base.

Submitted by: Joe

3:39 PM PDT, July 16, 2008