Twenty-three students were counted as dropouts last year, for a dropout rate of 0.4 percent, according to this year’s annual report. That number has decreased from 1.04 percent, which was posted in the 2007-08 school year .
Orange County Schools had 54 students drop out last year, which equated to a dropout rate of 1.54 percent. Durham Public Schools had a dropout rate of 2.18 percent, with 323 students who dropped out in the past year .
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ decreasing dropout rate might be due to the organizations the district has created in order to help kids stay on track, said Jeff Nash , spokesman for the district.
“Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocate does an amazing job with students who might be thinking about dropping out,” Nash said.
The program starts in fourth grade when a child receives a mentor within the community to help them move forward in his or her life.
Nash said freshman year is the main period of time when schools really have to work to keep students.
The program mentors provide students with tutoring, mentoring, leadership training and scholarship support services, according to the organization’s website .
The organization is designed to improve the achievement of African-American and Latino students, and it has also helped the district battle its widening achievement gap — the term used to describe the disparity between the academic performance of black and Hispanic students and their white peers.
