by Charles A. Cavazos
IDRA’s 37th annual attrition study found that 20% of the freshman class of 2018-19 in Texas public schools left school prior to graduating in 2021-22. In addition to being an increase over last year’s 19% rate, it is the first time Texas has experienced an increase since 2015-16.
Across racial and ethnic groups, attrition rates are lower than they were almost four decades ago, but in this year’s study, the attrition rate of each racial-ethnic group increased by 1 or 2 percentage points in the last year, except for Asian American students, whose rates remained unchanged.
School closures and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have had serious implications for student learning, engagement and dropout rates and some educational experts believe that remote learning during the pandemic placed students at a higher risk of dropping out of school. IDRA’s full attrition study for 2021-22 will be published soon.
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