BATON ROUGE, La - The state’s annual dropout rate has declined significantly according to a report released by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) today. According to the latest figures, the number of students in grades 7-12 who dropped out decreased by more than 4,000 students - from 14,616 (4.8 percent) in 2008-2009 to 10,520 (3.5 percent) in 2009-2010, representing a 28 percent decline.

A similar trend is evident among students in grades 9-12. In 2008-2009, 12,163 students (6.3 percent) dropped out of school. In 2009-2010, that figure dropped by 3,459 students to 8,704 students (4.6 percent), again representing a 28 percent reduction.

The 28 percent decline from 2008-2009 to 2009-2010 denotes the biggest reduction in the history of the state since Louisiana began tracking and reporting dropouts in 2001. In fact, while Louisiana has effectively decreased the number of students who drop out each year by 53 percent over the last decade, the biggest drop, 33 percent, occurred between 2008 and 2010.

Governor Bobby Jindal said, "This is good news, but we will not rest until every child graduates."

LDOE officials primarily attribute the significant decline to more focus on preventing dropouts and improving graduation rates at the state and local level, as well as new and enriched resources and tools to support early intervention and more accurate data collection and analysis.

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