THANKS TO A new method of tracking students, one that's long overdue, we now know that California is not doing as well as officials estimated when it comes to high-school dropouts and that previous estimations weren't even close.

As it now stands, the state's public school dropout rate is 24.2 percent, according to figures for the 2006-07 year. That's much worse than what officials previously estimated. For the prior year, the state claimed a 13.9 percent four-year dropout rate. California's 67.6 percent graduation rate doesn't even reach the national average, reported by the 2008 Diplomas Court as 70.6 percent. Talk about a wake-up call for our state.

The numbers range across the board in the Bay Area. Dropout rates are a major concern in West Contra Costa (39.6 percent), Oakland (37.4 percent) and Pittsburg (28.9 percent), but they were strong in Acalanes (2.2 percent), Fremont (6.7 percent) and Dublin (7.5). While Solano County hovered around 30 percent, San Mateo Union High only had a 6.4 percent dropout rate.

The most alarming statistics comes when they're broken down among ethnic groups. In California, 41.3 percent African-American students drop out of high school, 31.3 percent Native Americans and 30.3 percent Hispanics. These numbers show many districts are not doing enough in the classroom and are failing to identify and help students in need.

It's clear certain regions and groups are

in need of help, but it's obvious how out of touch the state Department of Education has been all of these years. Why wasn't a tracking system like this put in place years ago, where students across California were given a unique identification number? Clearly, the state's education database is well behind the times.

Before this new system, numbers were reported by school and districts and were inaccurate. Schools and districts were unable to keep track of freshmen who actually graduated with their classes four years later. Often, students would leave school saying they were transferring to another school, yet their original campus just assumed they were transfers without checking. Thankfully, this system is clearly more accurate and keeps track of students who actually transferred; those who didn't were deemed "lost transfers" and counted as dropouts. The state hopes to expand its system by 2009-10 to track individuals over time. Thank goodness for that.

So now the question is, how do we use this information? Why are some districts failing and others flourishing? Why are African-Americans having such a hard time staying in school, while Asians, at a 10.2 percent rate, are more likely to graduate? These are questions that must be addressed by the state Department of Education and all school districts. This is also more evidence that state lawmakers and namely Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must make education a greater priority

The numbers are in and they are not pretty. It's time to take action so we can keep ALL kids in school.