Education statistics for the 2002 Alabama Kids Count Data Book, released Wednesday, indicted only one of three areas of the study in Dallas County ranking among the state’s lowest.

The most significant aspect of this data reveals that the event and projected dropout rate decreased substantially from 1995 through 2001.

The county ranks 11th for the projected dropout rank, with only 8 percent of ninth grade students &045; versus 16 percent for the state &045; expected to drop out of school prior to graduation. As for the event dropout rank, which is 2 percent – 4 percent for the state – and the county ranking being 13th, is the percent of students who dropped out of grades nine through 12 during a specified school year.

May said that career awareness and vocational programs are also working to &uot;channel students in the right direction.&uot;

Susan Jones, principal at Dallas County High, said it’s just that. &uot;One of the things we’re doing at Dallas County High is trying to develop an individualized plan for every student,&uot; emphasizing to them that &uot;a high school education is important and necessary to have.&uot;

On the other hand, first grade retention rates for the county almost doubled from 1998 to 2001 according to the data. Retention rates for first graders is gauged by the number of enrolled first graders, during the specified school year, who are not promoted to the second grade.

Dallas County ranks 59th of the 67 counties in the state. In 1998, only 6 percent of all first-graders, a head count of 48 students, did not move on to the second grade. But in 2001, that number jumped to 13 percent, making the actual number of non-passing first-graders 95.

Statistics for the state show that first grade retention rate is 7 percent.

Tammy Helms, a parent of two who attend Valley Grande Elementary, said, &uot;Kids are a lot busier, a lot more active than they once were. But it’s upsetting (the retention rate increase) and that’s an issue that needs to be addressed.&uot;

Although her children are third and fifth graders,

Helms said that this information should be valuable to parents with children of that grade group.

But May and Elementary Education Specialist Nancy Brislin attributes the slight increase to more difficult promotion standards, which May believes is imperative to the future academic success of any student and feels the county is &uot;on the right track on stemming that tide,&uot; he said.

The Alabama Kids Count Data Book is complied by VOICES For Alabama Kids. Because of the lack of historical data, there is no trend analysis for first-grade retention, all other trends have been identified by the years that were studied. Trends are not reported for children in poverty, nor single-parent homes, also due to the lack of adequate data.