Committee finds flaws in plan to cut dropout rate

The Clarion-Ledger, 1/15/8

Mississippi’s legislative watchdog committee has found flaws with the state Department of Education’s plans to cut the state’s 26.6 percent dropout rate in half by 2013 before the plan is even officially kicked off.

The report, by the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review, says:

The state Department of Education should have evaluated the effectiveness of school districts’ 2004 dropout prevention programs before it made plans and requirements for the 2007 dropout prevention plans.

The department has no clearly defined strategy to ensure districts adhere to “best practices” for dropout prevention or are evaluated on an ongoing basis.