By Elizabeth Ahlin

Apr. 14, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
Students in the Council Bluffs school district drop out at a rate of more than twice the state average, but there's no easy answer to keeping students in school.

The first step is changing expectations, said Superintendent Martha Bruckner.

"We're trying to ingrain in students the idea, 'I'm going to graduate, I'm going to graduate,'" Bruckner said. "Maybe no one in their household has had this conversation at that point."

Bruckner hopes the Iowa Legislature can help.

This week, lawmakers are expected to consider a bill that would require Iowa students to remain enrolled until age 18. Current law allows them to drop out at age 16.

If adopted, the bill would affect most of the 3,600 high school students who drop out of school each year in Iowa.

That's only 2.3 percent of the total students enrolled in grades nine through 12 last year, but all students are important, supporters of the legislation say.

"There's no kid that should be viewed as expendable," said Jeff Berger, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Education.

Nebraska changed its compulsory attendance law in 2005, raising the age from 15 to 17. Now if a student wants to drop out of school legally before turning 18, a parent or guardian must sign a notarized release ending the student's enrollment. The Iowa bill doesn't include a provision that would allow a student to drop out with a parent's consent.

In Nebraska, the law has had virtually no effect on the state's dropout rate. In the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years, 2.54 percent of students in grades nine through 12 dropped out.

In 2005-06 and 2006-07, after the law went into effect, statewide dropout rates were 2.49 percent and 2.58 percent, respectively.

Iowa's dropout rate has been steady for years, fluctuating between 2.14 percent and 2.35 percent.

The message of mandatory school attendance is important, said Glenwood Superintendent Stan Sibley, but the state also needs to put more money into alternative programs to help students finish school.

Sibley isn't against the bill, but he wants to see state resources put toward enrichment courses and "credit recovery" programs, which allow students to earn credits lost because of failed classes.

Those programs would go a long way toward helping troubled students get back on track, said Sibley, who calls the Iowa bill "feel-good legislation."

In Denison, public school officials have tried to develop such programs. They have dual-credit classes, before- and after-school tutoring sessions and study skills classes during the day.

But it is not always enough, especially when dealing with a population of students who begin to learn English in high school.

Denison has a large Latino population. Many of its high school students are new English speakers, arriving at school when they are 16 or 17, said principal Steve Westerberg.

Staying in school until they're 18 -- even staying in school for four years -- isn't enough for students learning English to earn a diploma, he said.

"The reality is, it will take them five or more years. It can't be done in four years," said Westerberg.

Denison has a low dropout rate -- less than 1 percent -- but each year, several students leave to get jobs to help support their families.

For those students, raising the compulsory attendance age likely won't make a difference.

Gov. Chet Culver has urged the Legislature to pass the bill, saying a better-educated, highly skilled workforce will be needed to fill jobs in Iowa. The state will have an estimated 150,000 more jobs than workers by 2014, according to Culver's office.

Opponents of the legislation say students who no longer want to be in school shouldn't be there. They can be disruptive and distracting, making it difficult for teachers and students who are focused on learning.

The Iowa Department of Education favors the bill as a way to raise expectations for students and their families.

That effort is particularly important to the Council Bluffs School District. The district's dropout rate was 5.26 percent last year, more than twice the state average.

Raising the required attendance age won't be enough to persuade some students to stay and graduate, said Bruckner, the Council Bluffs superintendent, but it's a valuable tool in raising expectations.

In an effort to increase its graduation rate, Council Bluffs is trying to get students thinking about graduation -- starting on the first day of kindergarten. This year's kindergarten students received a button that says, "Council Bluffs Schools Class of 2020."

It won't fix everything, officials say, but it's a step in the right direction.

"We want to raise expectations for everyone -- parents, teachers, kids," Berger said. "Getting a diploma should be the minimum expectation."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0149-24474119