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We found children out of school in all the areas we surveyed across the country. We found both minority group and white children out of school. Mexican-American (11.4 percent), Portuguese (8.3 percent) and Puerto Rican (7.8 percent) children had the highest nonenrollrnent rates. Among all children surveyed, poverty was as strong a factor as minority group status in characterizing families of children out of school. The percentage of children out of school correlated with the percentage of children in families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) or other public assistance as their sole income. i3 The major exceptions were (1) children from Portuguese immigrant families in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where all family members 16 or over worked, usually in lowpaying factories, and (2) children in states with relatively low welfare payments like Maine, Alabama, and South Carolina. We found children more likely to be out of school if the head of their household had not completed the 10th grade. 14 In a New Bedford Census Tract (6526) where only 17 percent of heads of households had completed 10th grade, and in Floyd County (Mud Creek Area) where only 24 percent had done so, both areas had 9.2 percent of their children out of school. However: in a Denver Census Tract (41.01) where 95 percent of heads of households had completed at least 10th grade, only 2.6 percent of the children were out of school. In Portland, Maine's Census Tract 19, 96 percent had completed 10th grade and there were no children found out of school. There are some interesting findings when areas are rank ordered by selected characteristics.l 5 For example, a Census Tract in Denver (41.01) ranked high on minority enrollment, education of head of household and income. While we found very few children out of school in this Census Tract, it had 13 Our questionnaire asked families their source of income but not amount of income. 14 Head of household is male in two-parent families and either male or female in single-parent families. See Appendix H for percentage breakdown for head of household of families with school-age children completing lOth grade or more for each· area we visited. We gathered information on educational attainment of head of household from 68 percent of the families with school-age children interviewed. 44 the highest percentage of secondary school students suspended at least once of all the areas we surveyed. In a predominantly Portuguese Census Tract in New Bedford (6526), we found the lowest percent of heads of household completing 10th grade or above. This Tract had the highest percent of 16- and 17year-old children out of school. In many areas, nonenrollment problems correlated with high percentages of minority enrollment. But in the Riverton Housing Project in Portland, Maine, which is 96 percent white, we found high percentages of low-income families and families whose heads of household had not completed 10th grade. Riverton had the highest percentage of children out of school, and it was relatively high in the percent of secondary school students suspended. CDF Survey Undercount Although we tried to gather more detailed information on children out of school than the U.S. Census, like the Census, we believe our data understate the extent of the problem. First, we found at least one person at home in 77 percent of the households we visited. It is likely that a substantial number of our "no answers" were single-parent families with the mother at work. Since children in female-headed households tend to be out of school more often than children in non-femaleheaded families, many of our "no answers" could have been families with children out of school. Second, while translators accompanied our monitors in Holyoke, Somerville, Springfield, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, the lack of knowledge about school procedures among those interviewed and the difficulty in communication probably resulted in an undercount of non-English-speaking children in those areas. Third, people surely withheld information everywhere. Monitors were asking questions about sensi- 15 See Appendix G for all 30 areas ranked by children out of school 45 or more days, secondary school-age children suspended at least once, single-parent families of schoolage children, families with AFDC or other public assistance as their sole income, heads of households completing lOth grade or above, and percent minority children.
tive issues and sometimes about difficult situations concerning a child's educational experiences. In several cases, monitors were reluctant to probe very deeply. In others, family members were reluctant to discuss their problems. For example, several AFSC monitors reported that many black people in the South were particularly hesitant to discuss personal matters. Many parents were afraid we might be school officials or others coming to check up on them. Some felt embarrassed to admit their children did not go to school. 45
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CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL IN AMERICA A
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Copyright If.> October 1974 by the
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People Who Worked Oft This Report .
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Portland, Maine CDF staff Cambridge
Page 12: Foreword Introduction Chapter 1 Cha
Page 16 and 17: CHAPTER 1 Table I CHAPTER 2 Table I
Page 21: community leaders concerned with ed
Page 24 and 25: dren were suspended. The next highe
Page 26 and 27: described in this report, they can
Page 28 and 29: needed to improve and unify state c
Page 30 and 31: Bureaucratic Excuses for Inaction Y
Page 32 and 33: problems. Are teachers encouraged o
Page 35 and 36: Who Are the Children Out of School?
Page 37: vary. But while many of them descri
Page 40 and 41: Maxine, 14 Maxine Dolan is 14 and h
Page 42 and 43: until the new school year. Meanwhil
Page 45 and 46: awake until morning when the sounds
Page 47 and 48: He's had his chances, foreign or no
Page 49: Theresa, 12 Theresa Engler, a 12-ye
Page 52 and 53: 34 Table I Children Not Enrolled! B
Page 54 and 55: Proportion of Minority Children 2 T
Page 56: Social and Economic Factors Poor ch
Page 59: Limitations of Census Data Our anal
Page 64: .". 0\ Table VIII Chlldren Out of S
Page 68 and 69: VI o Table X All Children Out uf Sc
Page 70 and 71: Total % of Areas Surveyed Children
Page 73 and 74: Chapter 3 Barriers to School Attend
Page 75 and 76: TABLE I STATUTORY AND CONSTITUTIONA
Page 78 and 79: ter the four months because the cou
Page 80: Truancy Laws penalizing children an
Page 83 and 84: A Denver school official stated: "Y
Page 86 and 87: officers who spoke Spanish, and onl
Page 88 and 89: The principal of Lincoln Junior Hig
Page 91 and 92: For example, as of October, 1972, i
Page 93: think there is enough counseling, e
Page 97: fees required to take, for example,
Page 100 and 101: did not have books were not much of
Page 102 and 103: Consider what this would mean if yo
Page 104: no money to feed and care for all o
Page 107: Apparently a judgment has been made
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ecome self-sufficient adults are th
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In Cambridee, Massachusetts, an att
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Inadequacy of Special Education Pro
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over again for four or five years.
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Janice has not been suspended this
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ased. 56 They are modeled and norme
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chusetts counselor pointed out that
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that the city does not experiment w
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1. The use of many kinds of people
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abuse laws of the state. However, t
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116
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Many districts still have the power
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In contrast to the majority of publ
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The same pattern of secondary suspe
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Racial Discrimination in the Use of
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One southern school official admitt
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tion of the limitation on numbers o
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hold hearings, the reaction was sho
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or programs that operate as alterna
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complaints to the federal Office fo
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APPENDICES
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• most children who are instituti
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as opposed to every second, third,
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. Census Tract 123 Census Tract 123
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newal. Every third household was mo
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-secondary school children by sex a
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10. Are his special problems/needs
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Sheet E-l SCHOOL EXPULSIONS, SUSPEN
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Maine Portland Census Tract 11 I 1:
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ALABAMA State Officials Mr. William
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Mr. Milton Ogle, Associate Director
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Sumter County #2 School Officials D
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AppendixD STATE SCHOOL OFFlCIALS' R
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Los Angeles Unified School District
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AppendlxE u.s. CENSUS DATA Table I
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State Wisconsin Wyoming GRANO TOTAL
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AppendixE U.s. CENSUS DATA Table II
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.... \C 00 AppelldixE U.S. CENSUS D
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AppendixE u.s. CENSUS DATA Table II
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Appendix 6 RANK ORDERS OF AREAS IN
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AppendbH PERCENT OF HEADS OF HOUSEH
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State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkans
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State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkans
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AppendixM STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EDUC
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Lee I 4,925 2,663 2,260 2 83 18 65
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Walker I 9,671 8,924 745 2 230 164
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Collins I 35 29 6 (82.4) (17.1 ) Co
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Junction City 1,003 584 419 (58.2)
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SI. Charles I 245 149 96 (60.8) (39
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AppendlxM STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EDUC
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Appendix M STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EDU
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App@ndblfl STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EDU
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Appendix M STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EDU
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South Pike Cons. I 2,575 893 1,677
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Clarendon #2 I 3,246 784 2,462 54 8
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Orangeburg #7 1,112 158 954 9 9 (14
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A. ppendi.'\: N SPECIAL EDUCATION I
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Learning Deaf!Hard Blind! Speech Ph
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Rhode Island Society for Autistic C
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Federal Court Consent Agreements; P
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Mr. Peter E. Holmes Director, Offic
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census figures and often did not ch
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pils who dropped out of this school
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SUGGESTED REFINEMENTS IN THE INDIVI
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I. Name of School System _ II. Name
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2 1 1 16 2 14 Cotton Plant 586 72 5
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1 1 5 4 1 Tuckerman 820 711 109 (1)
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Appelldlx R OCR DATA ON STUDENT SUS
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APPENDIXR FOOTNOTES I Unless noted
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36There were 1,763 students, suspen
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Total Students Suspended At Least O
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APPENDIX T TABLES I-II FOOTNOTES IS
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Kentucky Floyd County Total I 2 0.5
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AppendixT SUSPENSIONS IN CD" SURVEY
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Kentucky Floyd County Total Mud Cre
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Appendix T SUSPENSIONS IN CDF SURVE
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Appenllb V STATUTORY PROVISIONS FOR
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Massachusetts I Official None -Misc
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itppe",db V STATUTORY PROVISIONS FO
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Bureau is interested primarily in d
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could be collected centrally at the
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