Lynn Attrition Rates 2013-14

The attrition rate refers to the percentage of students who leave a particular school or school district from the end of one school year to the beginning of the next. Last we looked at the 2013-14 attrition rate for the Salem Public School district; now let's look at Lynn. 

In 2013-14, the Lynn public school district's overall attrition rate (excluding charter schools) was 6.3%, up from 5.4% in the previous year. This means that 6.3% of the students enrolled in an LPS school during 2012-13 were not enrolled within the district this school year. At KIPP Academy Lynn, the attrition rate was 4.6%, down from 5.4%.

The attrition rate varied at the grade level with the highest attrition after the 4th and 8th grades in LPS. KIPP had a generally stable attrition rate from the 6th - 9th grade and much lower rates at the 5th and 10th grades.

*KIPP currently only enrolls students in grades 5 - 11.


Over the last few years, the attrition rate in LPS has been much higher in the 4th and 8th grades than the district's average.

The DESE also calculates the attrition rate at the individual school level. This is slightly different in the sense that this just refers to the percentage of students who leave a particular school but not necessarily the district. Some of the students who leave one school may have transferred to another public school within LPS.

At the elementary level, Drewicz had the highest attrition rate (18.2%); Breed had the highest attrition by a slight margin at the middle school level (8.9%) and Fecteau-Leary at the high school level (12%).

A few things about the numbers listed here:

• The attrition rates at the individual school level are higher than the district average indicating that many students may be transferring within the district as opposed to leaving LPS altogether.
• The attrition rate simply notes the percentage of students that left a particular school or district but not the reason why. Some families may a school or the district due to concerns about the quality of education while other may be leaving for job opportunities or more affordable housing, to be closer to family, etc.
• This information does not account for district level decisions to relocate programs such as special education classes.
• One should consider the affect of attrition rates on standardized test scores. At Cobbet, for example, 15.7% of students left the school after 2012-13 yet the population from last school year to the current one was only -2.2% meaning that the school saw an influx of new students at all grade levels even when accounting for the new kindergarten class. The constantly changing student roster has implications as far as a school's ability to show progress with students over time.
• This information is just a snapshot. Enrollment and attrition information is reported as of October 1st and is fluid particularly if one considers that students can transfer in and out of schools any time of the school year.

All data taken from: www.doe.mass.edu 

Salem Attrition Rates 2013-14

The attrition rate refers to the percentage of students who leave a particular school or school district from the end of one school year to the beginning of the next. Here we look at the attrition rate for the Salem Public School district

From the end of the 2012-13 school to the beginning of the 2013-14 school year 8.5% of students who were enrolled in a Salem public school left the district; this figure is considered the attrition rate for 2013-14. Below is a graph showing SPS's attrition over the last few school years.

Attrition rates statewide ranged from 0.3% to 43.6% at the district level.


The highest attrition rates in Salem are at the 5th and 8th grade levels, meaning that a higher percentage of students left the district after these grades than at other grade levels. In 2013-14, the attrition rate at the 5th grade level was 19.6% and 23.2% at the 8th grade level. 

This year Salem had the 10th highest attrition rate at the 5th grade level in the state.

The DESE also calculates the attrition rate at the individual school level. This is slightly different in the sense that this just refers to the percentage of students who leave the specific school but not necessarily the district. Some of the students who leave a particular school may have transferred to another public school within SPS.

 

In 2013-14, Carlton and Bentley had the highest attrition rates at 24.9% and 21%, respectively. Bates, Bowditch, Horace Mann and Salem High School all saw a decrease in their overall attrition rates from the previous school year. 

All data taken from: www.doe.mass.edu

Lynn Intake and Stability Rates 2012

Previously, we looked at Lynn public school attrition rates. Here we look at two other statistics regarding school enrollment: the intake rate and stability rate. The intake rate measures the number of students that enroll in the state, a district, or school after the beginning of the school year (generally after October 1st in a given school year). The stability rate measures how many students remain in a district or school throughout the entire school year as measured through a comparison of October 1st and end of school year enrollment information.

Below is the intake and stability rate information for the Lynn public school district and KIPP Academy Lynn Charter School for the 2011-12 school year.

District	% Intake	% Stability
Lynn	8.7%	91.3%
KIPP	4.4%	94.9%

Within LPS, 91.3% of students who were enrolled in an LPS school as of October 1, 2011 remained in the district through the end of the school year; KIPP's stability rate was slightly higher at 94.9%.

At the individual school level, stability rates across all public schools in Lynn (including KIPP) were relatively similar with the exception of Fecteau-Leary Junior/Senior High which had the lowest stability rate in the city at 56%.

 Lynn Public School Stability Rates 2012

 

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education also reports stability rates at the subgroup level.

                                                             Lynn                   KIPP

English Language Learner	90.1%	94.4%
Low Income	90.9%	94.4%
Students w/ Disabilities	89.0%	93.8%
African Am/Black	88.4%	97.5%
Asian	92.0%	100.0%
Hispanic/Latino	91.1%	94.0%
Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic	89.6%	100.0%
White	93.3%	91.4%

Within LPS, African American/Black students had the lowest stability rate while at KIPP, the subgroup with the lowest stability rate was White students. 

Intake rates at each Lynn school did vary somewhat with Fecteau-Leary reporting the highest intake rate (32.6%). The percentage of students enrolling in a public Lynn school after October 1st ranged from 2.9% to 32.6%.

 Lynn Public School Intake Rates 2012

 

In considering both the stability and intake rates as well as the attrition rate, one has to consider the implications these statistics has achievement for public schools in Lynn. Having a large percentage of students or even a specific population of students both enrolling and transferring out of a school or district at any point in the year and/or after the school has the potential to have a negative impact on the school or district's overall achievement in terms of standardized testing and other academic indicators.

Below are the stability, intake and attrition rates for Lynn elementary schools along with their accountability rankings; Level 3 and 4 schools have been highlighted in blue. Accountability rankings are as follows:

• Level 1:  On track to college and career readiness
• Level 2:  Not meeting gap closing goals
• Level 3:  Focus: Lowest performing 20% of schools (including schools with the largest gaps)
• Level 4:  Priority: Lowest performing schools
• Level 5:  Priority: Chronically under-performing schools

School	% Stability	% Intake	Attrition Rate	Accountability Ranking
Aborn	96.7%	2.8%	13.6%	Level 1
Brickett	92.9%	6.2%	12.5%	Level 2
Callahan	90.2%	10.9%	9.0%	Level 2
Cobbet	89.2%	11.4%	27.5%	Level 3
Connery	86.3%	11.1%	19.6%	Level 4
Drewicz	91.2%	9.2%	17.5%	Level 3
Ford	89.0%	9.9%	9.8%	Level 3
Harrington	89.5%	16.4%	21.3%	Level 4
Hood	87.0%	12.6%	16.3%	Level 2
Ingalls	89.3%	13.9%	12.9%	Level 2
Lincoln-Thomson	94.0%	7.7%	4.1%	Level 2
Lynn Woods	97.5%	3.7%	6.1%	Level 3
Sewall-Anderson	96.1%	6.4%	9.6%	Level 1
Shoemaker	95.9%	2.9%	6.3%	Level 1
Sisson	93.9%	8.3%	8.0%	Level 2
Tracy	89.8%	11.6%	14.8%	Level 2

Here we see that Level 4 Harrington, for example, has a 89.5% stability rate and a 21.3% attrition. This coupled with the 16.4% intake rate suggests that Harrington's student enrollment sees considerable changes throughout the school year and from year to year. In thinking school achievement, consideration must be made of pertinent mobility related statistics (stability, intake and attrition) in addition to other factors order to have an accurate picture of the school or district's overall achievement, student population and the challenges that the school or district may be facing.

  

All Data Taken from: www.doe.mass.edu