children out of school in america - University of Tennessee Digital ...

This chapter presents our analysis of the two principal
sources of data on children out of school: (1)
1970 United States Census data on nonenrollment,
and (2) the results from our own household survey
in nine states and the District of Columbia.
u.s. Census Data on Nonenrollment 1
According to the 1970 Census, nearly two million
school-age children 7 to 17 were not enrolled in any
school three consecutive months prior to enumeration
in April, 1970. More than one million of them
were between the ages of 7 and 15. Over threequarters
of a million were elementary school-age
cllildren 7 to 13.
t The 1970 Census asked of persons in a 15 percent sample
whether they had attended "regular" (public or private)
school or college at any time between February I, 1970,
and the time of enumeration. Though the question was
phrased in terms of school attendance, it was interpreted by
the Census Bureau to reflect nonenrollment.
It is impossible to tell exactly how long a child had to
be out of school to be enumerated "not enrolled" by the
Census Bureau. A Census questionnaire was delivered by
postal carriers to every household several days before Census
Day, April I, 1970. In the larger metropolitan areas
and some adjacent counties, altogether containing about
three-fifths of the population of the United States, the
householder was requested to fill out and mail back the
form on Census Day. Approximately 87 percent of the
householders did so. The mailed-back forms were reviewed
by the Census enumerator (or, in some localities, a Census
clerk) and if the form was determined to be incomplete or
inconsistent, a follow-up contact was made. The bulk of
Chapte,.2
Ho,v Many Children
Are Out of School?
There are children out of school all over the nation.
They are white, black and brown, rich and
poor, from families with all kinds of income and
educational levels. There is no statistical grouping
of any size that does not show some of its children
out of school. Some kinds of children, however, are
more likely than others to be out of school. Census
data begin to draw a picture of the child out of
school as one wllo is in some way different - racially,
ethnically or economically. While it is clear
from the figures that being out of school affects all
ages, it is equally clear that the older a child gets,
the more likely he or she will have difficulty staying
in school. For many children, ages 16 and 17 are
years when they finally give up on the school system
and when the school system gives up on them.
these follow-ups were made by telephone, the rest by personal
visit. For the households which did not mail back
their forms, a follow-up contact was also made, in almost
all cases by personal visit and in the remainder by telephone.
For the remaining two-fifths of the population. the
householder was requested to fill out the form and give it
to the enumerator when he visited; approximately 80 percent
did so. Incomplete and unfilled forms were completed
by interview during the enumerator's visit.
Since there was no way of telling where or how many
households completed Census questionnaires at any given
time in April, 1970, CDF assumed for purposes of this
study that the Census nonenrollment figure referred to
three consecutive months out of school (from February I
to April 30, 1970). We know this is an extremely cautious
assumption.
See Appendix A for the methodology used to analyze
Census data.
33