January 17, 2007
East Valley Tribune
Guest Commentary by Dr. Sybil Francis
Executive Director, Center for the Future of Arizona

Arizona’s outdated law allowing kids to drop out of school at age 16 needs to be changed. Giving up on students before they are mature enough to make decisions about their future is neither compassionate nor smart.

When more learning is the call from employers and when we know that the future of dropouts holds only low wages, reliance on social services and perhaps even a life of crime, this law makes no sense. The world has changed since Arizona statehood and educational expectations should adjust accordingly. Let’s stop sending a mixed message to our kids that says they need 21st Century skills to succeed, yet allows their futures to be tied to last century’s expectations. Let’s support the governor’s call to raise the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18.

Sadly, it is our most vulnerable students who choose what appears to be the easiest path. Sure, some of these dropouts are not performing academically and others need jobs. But a national survey of high school dropouts conducted last year for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found that most students drop out because they feel that no one really cares if they stay in school. Many said simply that they could drop out without legal consequence, so they did.

Research conducted by the Center for the Future of Arizona found that the median graduation rate for states with a compulsory attendance age of 18 is 86 percent compared to 81 percent for those states that require attendance only to age 16. Since Arizona’s most recent median graduation rate is 76.8 percent, we should be doing everything possible to keep students in school until they graduate. Gains in graduation rates of just one percent to two percent could mean 1,000 more kids graduating from high school per year.

Some argue that requiring students to stay in school beyond age 16 will keep disruptive kids in the classroom to the detriment of others. But kids can become disruptive at any age. Does that make it OK to let them drop out of school? Further, no one is suggesting that discipline policies and alternative environments for troubled kids be eliminated. To the contrary, we need to ensure that students who want to focus on their studies have the kind of environment they need to thrive. But we need to help struggling students do the same.

Raising the compulsory attendance age to 18 is part of a larger strategy to modernize Arizona’s school system, as recently proposed to the governor by the P-20 Council. This group of business leaders, educators and policy makers was established to ensure that more students graduate from high school, succeed in college and are ready for the modern workforce.

Why are we making it more difficult to keep kids where they belong – in school – by letting them drop out at age 16? The governor’s proposal fixes the logical error in our law that says to kids, “Do as I say, not as the law says you can do.”

Let’s empower schools and parents by making school attendance mandatory until age 18 and let kids know we won’t give up on them even if they don’t “fit in.” And let’s do all that we can to make school attractive and responsive to students’ needs, not give up on them.