Student Support Staffing and Dropout Rates In High-Poverty California Schools

Background and Purpose: High school dropout rates remain a persistent equity issue, disproportionately affecting students from low-income and marginalized communities. Pupil personnel services (PPS) professionals — including school social workers, counselors, and psychologists — are positioned to address barriers to school completion, yet little research has examined how staffing levels of these professionals relate to dropout outcomes at the county level. This study investigates the relationships among dropout rates, concentrated economic disadvantage as measured by free and reduced-price meal (FRPM) eligibility, and full-time PPS staffing levels across California counties over a four-year period.

Methods: This secondary data analysis drew from two statewide administrative datasets: the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and the California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS), as reported by the California Department of Education from 2020 to 2024. The sample included 57 California counties. Key variables included county-level dropout rates per 1,000 students, the percentage of students qualifying for FRPM, and the number of full-time equivalent PPS professionals per 1,000 enrolled students. Pearson correlations examined bivariate relationships among variables. A one-way MANOVA assessed whether concentrated disadvantage was significantly associated with the combined outcomes of dropout rates and PPS staffing, followed by ANOVAs to examine individual outcome effects.

Results: The average FRPM rate across counties was 58.11%, the average PPS staffing level was 5.13 FTE per 1,000 students, and the average dropout rate was 94.24 per 1,000 students. Correlation analyses revealed a weak positive relationship between FRPM eligibility and dropout rates, and a very weak negative relationship between PPS staffing levels and dropout rates, suggesting that higher staffing may be modestly associated with lower dropout rates. MANOVA results indicated that concentrated disadvantage was significantly associated with the combined outcome variables, while year was not. Follow-up ANOVAs showed small effects of concentrated disadvantage on PPS staffing levels but no statistically significant effects on dropout rates.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings suggest that economic disadvantage at the county level is meaningfully associated with both dropout rates and the distribution of pupil services professionals, though the relationship between staffing and dropout outcomes requires further investigation with more granular data. These results have direct implications for policy and advocacy: current PPS staffing ratios in California are insufficient, particularly in counties with high concentrations of poverty. School social workers and allied professionals are encouraged to advocate for equitable staffing policies and resource allocation at the district and state levels. Without intentional investment in pupil services staffing, dropout rates will continue to disproportionately burden marginalized communities. Future research should examine school-level data and incorporate qualitative methods to better understand the mechanisms by which PPS professionals influence student persistence and graduation outcomes.