High School Graduation Rates: The Good, The Bad And The Ambiguous : NPR Ed

By Anya Kamenetz

Officially, the U.S. has a high school graduation rate of 81 percent — a historic high.

But our monthslong investigation, in partnership with reporters at 14 member stations, reveals that this number should be taken with a big grain of salt. We found states, cities and districts pursuing a range of strategies to improve the grad rate:

  • Some are mislabeling students or finding ways of moving them off the books. In Chicago, reports Becky Vevea of WBEZ, “the district is misclassifying hundreds of students who enroll in its alternative schools.” District officials say that theyre investigating the issue.
  • Schools in places like Detroit and Camden, N.J., are making it easier to get a diploma. In all, 21 states offer alternative, sometimes much easier, paths to graduation.

via High School Graduation Rates: The Good, The Bad And The Ambiguous : NPR Ed : NPR.

US Graduation Rates on Track to Reach 90% by 2020 – Education News

By Kristin Decarr

A new report released this week suggests that American schools are still on track to reach the national goal of having 90% of high school students graduate on time by 2020.

The 2015 report, Building A Grad Nation, which was released by America’s Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises, Everyone Graduates Center, and the Alliance for Excellent Education, is the sixth annual update on the topic.

According to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education, the nation saw a record high of 81.4% of high schoolers graduate on time in 2013. This is in part due to an increase in the graduation rates of minority and low-income students.

The US has seen an increase in the graduation rate of Latino students of 4.2 percentage points between 2011 and 2013. At the same time, African American students generated an increase of 3.7 percentage points. These gains have also allowed for the closing of the graduation rate among these groups with their white peers.

via US Graduation Rates on Track to Reach 90% by 2020.

State data shows more Vallejo students graduated – Times Herald

By Irma Widjojo

While the Benicia Unified School District remained stable, the Vallejo City Unified School District saw a higher graduation rate — and a lower dropout rate — in the 2013-2014 school year, according to data released by the California Department of Education on Tuesday.

American Canyon High School, however, saw a slight dip.

The Vallejo school district had a 72 percent graduation rate and a 21.2 dropout rate last year, which was an improvement from the 65 percent graduation and 27.6 dropout rates in the 2013 cohort. However, the district’s graduation rate is still lower than the national rate at 80.8 percent.

The increase in graduation is reflective of the statewide trend. The 2014 state data showed an 0.4 of a percentage point increase from the year before.

via State data shows more Vallejo students graduated.

High school grad rates a mixed bag for area districts, schools – The Reporter

Not necessarily reflecting statewide trends, Vacaville-area school districts and schools this year appear to be reporting a mixed bag of data about their cohort graduation rate, meaning those students who started high school in 2010-11 and picked up their diplomas in 2014.

The news comes as Tom Torlakson, the state superintendent of public instruction, reported on Tuesday that California’s cohort graduation rate climbed for the fifth year in a row in 2014, to a record high. The biggest jump occurred among English learners.

In Vacaville Unified, the graduation rate was 83.1 percent, down by more than a percentage point from the previous year for which state data is available.

By school, the numbers were 99 percent at Buckingham Charter High (about the same as in 2012-13); 91.8 percent at Vacaville High (up slightly from the previous year); and 88.3 percent at Will C. Wood, down by more than 2 percentage points from the previous year.

via High school grad rates a mixed bag for area districts, schools.

National Graduation Rate Hits All-Time High (Again) – Education Week

By Alyson Klein

The national, four-year graduation rate has ticked up for the second year in a row, growing from 80 percent in the 2011-12 school year, to 81 percent in the 2012-13 school year, according to data released in January by the U.S. Department of Education. (The data from the National Center for Education Statistics has been out for almost a month, but the official release was Thursday.)

Most individual states made gains. For instance, the District of Columbia’s grad rate grew from 59 percent in the 2011-12 school year to 62 percent in 2012-13.

via National Graduation Rate Hits All-Time High (Again) – Politics K-12 – Education Week.

School dropout rate declines, graduation rate grows in Vallejo, statewide – Vallejo Times Herald

By Sarah Rohrs

The good news is that California’s graduation rate is climbing steadily. The bad news is that there’s still a lot of work to do to ensure all youth get a high school diploma, state officials said Monday.

In releasing the latest graduation data, the state Department of Education announced that 80.2 percent who started high school in 2009 graduated with their class four years later — an increase of 1.3 percent over the previous year.

The Vallejo City Unified School District is also seeing a similar trend of improved graduation rates, local officials announced.

via School dropout rate declines, graduation rate grows in Vallejo, statewide – Vallejo Times Herald.

Grad Rate Tops 80% – Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education)

LOS ANGELES—For the fourth year in a row, California’s graduation rate climbed as the dropout rate fell, particularly for students of color, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

More than eight out of 10 students statewide, or 80.2 percent, who started high school in 2009-10 graduated with their class in 2013. That is up 1.3 percentage points from the year before (Table 1). Graduation rates among African-American and Hispanic students climbed faster than the statewide average, although the rates remained lower overall. Among African-American students, 67.9 percent graduated with their class in 2013, up 1.9 percentage points from the year before. Among Hispanic students, 75.4 percent graduated with their class, up 1.7 percentage points from the year before (Tables 2 and 3).

“For the first time in our state’s history, more than 80 percent of our students are graduating—a clear sign of their hard work and the support they receive from their teachers, families, and communities,” Torlakson said. “We are continuing toward our goal of graduating 100 percent of our students with the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed.”

via Grad Rate Tops 80% – Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education).

Let’s find ways to improve graduation rates – Daily Republic Opinion

By

For the past several weeks, we have celebrated our successful high school graduates in Solano County. While I congratulate them, let us not forget the 16 percent of Solano County high school students – 859 students – who dropped out.

In Fairfield and Vacaville, one out of every 11 students dropped out of high school; in Vallejo, one out of every three students dropped out. Those 859 high school dropouts are eight times more likely to end up in jail or prison than the students who graduated.

Let’s find ways to improve graduation rates Daily Republic.

Daily Republic Editorial: Graduation season upon us

High school seniors throughout the greater Fairfield-Suisun City-Vacaville area will take that big step into their futures as a string of commencement ceremonies get going.

We saw a taste of what’s to come Thursday with commencement at Solano Community College. We gave the day a special touch by covering a kindergarten graduation ceremony at Vacaville Christian Schools. The pair of ceremonies served as bookends in terms of the age spectrum, a point-counterpoint, if you will.

via Graduation season upon us.

Education Week: Diplomas Elusive for Many Students With Learning Disabilities

A state-by-state analysis of the most recent data on graduation rates for students with learning disabilities shows that while more of those students have been leaving high school with a standard diploma, many states are struggling to reach the national graduation rate average of 68 percent for students in that disability category.

via Diplomas Elusive for Many Students With Learning Disabilities.

Public Policy Institute of California publication: College Readiness as a Graduation Requirement: An Assessment of San Diego’s Challenges

Four large California school districts—Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Oakland—recently adopted ambitious new graduation standards designed to increase college readiness. Evidence from San Diego indicates a need for major interventions to help students succeed under the new policies. In conjunction with this report, the authors developed the a–g On Track Model, which can help districts identify middle-school students who will have difficulty completing the new requirements.

This research was supported with funding from the Donald Bren Foundation.

via PUBLICATION: College Readiness as a Graduation Requirement: An Assessment of San Diego’s Challenges.

VCUSD’s Facebook Wall: VCUSD Graduation Rate 2011-2012

The Vallejo City Unified School District’s graduation rate for the 2011-2012 school year has significantly increased over past performance. On Tuesday, April 9th, 2013 the California Department of Education released information about the graduation and dropout rates for all California schools. In 2011-2012 the graduation rate for VCUSD high schools jumped to 59% for a 5 percentage point gain. This is in contrast to the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years where the graduation rate remained stalled at 54%.

via VCUSD
Graduation Rate 2011-2012

The Educated Guess: Committee wrestles with incorporating graduation rate into API

As part of a push to measure how well a school is educating its students based on more than just test scores, California for the first time is planning to factor graduation rates into the state’s main measure of a school’s academic achievement.

The state Department of Education is recommending that as early as next year the proportion of students who receive some form of a high school diploma should account for a fifth of a school’s Academic Performance Index. The API is a composite score, between 200 and 1,000, that is based on students’ scores on standardized tests. Schools at the low end of the scale risk state sanctions, putting campuses under pressure to perform.

via Committee wrestles with incorporating graduation rate into API – by John Fensterwald.

Education Week: Ed. Dept. Emphasizes Graduation-Rate Accountability in Letter to States

In the face of continued criticism that the federal Education Department is allowing states to weaken graduation-rate accountability, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent a letter to states reinforcing that high school completion must be a significant part of accountability systems under No Child Left Behind Act waivers.

Duncan, in a “dear colleague” letter sent Monday to chief state school officers, emphasizes that he is not waiving the 2008 regulations that required states to calculate graduation rates in the same way and use that data as a “significant” factor in accountability.

via Ed. Dept. Emphasizes Graduation-Rate Accountability in Letter to States.

The Educated Guess: Incomparably comparable graduation rates

For the first time ever, the U.S. Department of Education has released high school graduation rates based on a common, rigorous measure that makes it possible to compare states, and California falls into the bottom half.

More than a quarter of California high school students don’t graduate after four years, according to figures released yesterday for nearly every state, the District of Columbia and the Bureau of Indian Education. [Note: Data for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Puerto Rico has not been reported.]

via Incomparably comparable graduation rates – by Kathryn Baron.

Dan Walters: High school grad rates tell a tale

Let’s assume, for sake of argument or column-writing, that the fundamental task of any public school system is to maximize the number of students who graduate from high school and are ready to either enter the workforce or further their educations.

Thanks to a new report from the U.S. Department of Education, which for the first time provides state-by-state comparisons of graduation rates on common criteria, we now know where California ranks – and it isn’t very high.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/28/5014534/dan-walters-high-school-grad-rates.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: High school grad rates tell a tale.

Education Week: New Graduation Rate Data Show Large Achievement Gaps

The U.S. Department of Education today released four-year high school graduation rates for the 2010-11 school year that, for the first time, reflect a common method of calculation for all states.

The state-by-state data show graduation rates that range from 59 percent in the District of Columbia to 88 percent in Iowa. The new method requires states to track individual students and report how many first-time 9th graders graduate with a standard diploma within four years.

via New Graduation Rate Data Show Large Achievement Gaps.

Education Week: Miller to Duncan: Waivers May Offer Too Much Leeway On Grad Rates

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Education committee, is worried that the department isn’t holding states’ feet to the fire when it comes to monitoring graduation rates in states that have received waivers from parts of the No Child Left Behind Act.

In fact, Miller wrote Secretary of Education Arne Duncan a letter last Friday, saying, basically, that he’s worried that states are trying to wiggle out of the graduation reporting regulations that former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings put in place just before she left office in 2008. Those rules required states to use a uniform metric for calculating grad rates.

via Miller to Duncan: Waivers May Offer Too Much Leeway On Grad Rates.

EdSource Today: Report: Truancy is taking its toll

By Susan Frey

Having trouble getting your teenager up in time for school? Ask Whoopi Goldberg to help. The celebrity wake-up call is one of many successful strategies employed by New York City to try to get kids to school on time.

A report based on a nationwide survey of truants — Skipping to Nowhere — released Tuesday by Get Schooled emphasizes the importance of developing new strategies to convince both parents and students that being in school on time each day is important.

via Report: Truancy is taking its toll – by Susan Frey.