Why The 54% Graduation Rate?
What do you know about Richmond High School’s 54% graduation
rate? Not much – except it’s bad, right?
Talk to anyone of the general public these days about
education in Richmond, the one issue that rises to the top is the 54%
graduation rate at RHS. It may, or may not, be the most important measurement
of local education, but it is the one people think most about, and
unfortunately, I believeit has not been adequately explained. So I’m going to
try.
Although there are many more issues to talk about, the 54%
graduation rate must be taken up first, met head-on, so to speak, at least to
the extent that this writer understands it, and as a slow learner he has tried
mightily (and slowly) to understand it. If what follows is off-base, perhaps an
educator or school board member might want to correct it. They are welcome to
do so.
For starters, we have to acknowledge that it is a very
damaging figure, even a “black eye” on our city’s reputation, certainly no help
to economic development. When our high school is listed as having the SEVENTH
LOWEST graduation in the state – Wow! It gets your attention – as
it should. The first question that arises is Why? Have we always been that bad?
A quick answer is No, only in the latest ratings. Whyzat? Because Richmond (and
a lot of other school districts) were using different measurements on what IS
a graduation rate. So the first thing to say about the dramatic drop is that it
is largely procedural – that is, the state has changed the rules –
and mandated a new way to figure graduation rates. What we were counting as
“graduates” the state no longer counts as such.
Let me try to explain. And in doing so, I am only listing
STATISTICS – not much in explaining what lies behind them. In other
words, we have to know the FACTS before we can get into the multitude of what
lies behind them – which may be taken up by others or here later.
Let’s start by comparing our figures with the state
averages, the main one being the state average graduation rate (under the new
procedure) of 76.5%. Now, the following items – some of
which have previously been counted as part of the graduation rate
– are items that are now DEDUCTIBLE from a 100% rate:
ITEMS NOT COUNTED
IN GRADUATION RATE
|
|
RHS |
State |
|
|
|
|
|
GED Degrees |
9.4% |
3.2% |
|
Still In School |
9.6% |
7.4% |
|
Special Ed Certificates |
3% |
1% |
|
Dropouts |
23.8% |
11.2% |
|
Total Deductions |
45.8% |
22.9% |
|
|
|
|
As you can see, the major differences are the top and bottom
items. RHS issues almost three times the number of G.E.D. (General Education
Degrees) as the state. And all this time, I thought we were proud of how many
we awarded here, because we were “saving” more kids who didn’t finish the
regular way. But under the new procedure, G.E.D.s don’t count because those kids
did not finish high school in the regular four years. Only kids who finish in
four years count as “graduates.” As to the bottom item – Dropouts –
there’s nothing to be proud of there. RHS officials immediately point out that
strenuous efforts are being made to reduce that rate and it actually came down
30% from 2005 to 2006 (99 to 69), but remember that we are talking about 2006
and the rate was still a horrendous 23.8%. A special program to further improve
that rate will be mentioned later.
How About Other
Schools?
The above comparisons are based on gross figures for the
whole state, from Gary to Carmel, so we need a closer comparison by listing
other similar school districts in this general region. Such as:
ITEMS NOT COUNTED
IN GRADUATION RATE - PEER DISTRICTS
| RHS | Anderson | Connersville | Marion | Muncie | New Castle | |
| Graduation Rate | 54% | 61% | 70.3%e | 63.2% | 68.3% | 76.1% |
| G.E.D. Degrees | 9.4% | 4.8% | 8.6% | 3.7% | 7.4% | 2.6% |
| Still In School | 9.6% | 12.0% | 7.9% | 11.2% | 6.6% | 9.2% |
| Special Ed Certificates | 3.0% | 1.1% | 2.3% | 2.7% | 5.2% | 3.0% |
| Dropouts | 23.8% | 20.8% | 10.9% | 19.2% | 12.5% | 8.9% |
As you can see, the various items bounce up and down, with
no clear trend. All are lower in dropout rates, but not by all that much,
except Connersville and New Castle. (How could those two districts have such
low dropout rates?) Would you have guessed that New Castle would have the
highest graduation rate of the bunch? Or that Muncie’s would be below
Connersville’s?
Those are the facts, folks. That’s where our 54% comes from.
Maybe someone smarter than I am can explain it all. My first reaction is that
the 54% is not the whole story or the final answer. And if New Castle can come
up with an 8.9% dropout rate, there’s no reason we can’t do it here.
I’d hoped to tell some more about the latest results of
dropout prevention and maybe about the puzzle of Graduation Qualifying Exams,
but I’ve gone on too long already (as usual). More later. Come back in a week
or so. Or even better, enter a comment below.
— Vic Jose
Vic Jose :: Jul.17.2007 :: Uncategorized ::
2 Responses to “Why The 54% Graduation Rate?”
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I’d be interested to know if our graduation rates were slipping before the change in how they are counted. Seems like when I graduated way back in 1965, Richmond was supposed to be among the best schools in the state. Maybe that’s not as accurate as I believed. My kids graduated in the 80’s, and I thought it was a good school then also, but I remember hearing some grumbling. Has it been a long, slow slide, or was there a sharp drop at some point?
VJ:You raise some good questions, and I assume that someone could go over all the old data and correlate it with the current graduation format, but it would be a big job. I share your feeling that the local concensus was that Richmond was “among the best schools in the state,” and personally, I believe it was — and in many ways, still is. One thing that has remained constant (in my opinion) is that RCS has always provided a superior education for the top 15-20% of each class. I believe that is still true. Changes in quality, if any, have been mostly due to the fact that the world has changed. During your school era, it didn’t matter so much whether a student did well in studies (and we certainly didn’t have the testing mechanisms we have now), because the job market didn’t require it. Sometimes, it made good economic sense for a boy to drop out of high school and get a job in local industry, where he could earn more than some of the kids coming out of college. A few years ago, when a local factory closed and they were trying to find jobs for those let go, they discovered that 20% of them were functionally illiterate. Their buddies had been reading the job instructions for them.
Now, all of this is getting sort of far afield from your questions, but in general terms, the largest problem is that the world has changed. Factories no longer hire dropouts — a fact that too many dropouts and some parents don’t seem to believe. The mere act of dropping out immediately places that person in a lower earning level with less prospects for future advancement. So now — enter the schools! While it didn’t really “matter” some years ago whether a kid graduated from high school, now it is all-important for his or her future — and now the spotlight is on all school systems to see that it happens. If it doesn’t happen (low test scores and graduation rates), usually the “blame game” begins, leading to more heat than light on the subject.
I’m trying to get back to your questions, and when you ask whether local education has been in a long, slow slide? I don’t know, and I doubt if we could ever find out for sure. Graduation rates should be an easy to compare, but they are not. It all comes down to — as we have recently found out — “what is a graduate?” I can remember a few years ago when the local superintendent announced a major increase in the graduation rate at RHS, something like 15%. Wow! Sounded good. But eventually we found out that he was measuring it differently than the guy before him did.
In one thing I do believe there has been a “slow slide,” that is, a respect for education and a pride we should have in the outstanding people and educational accomplishments that have always been associated with Richmond throughout its history.
To return — again — to the current questions, we can only make progress by asking: Where are we now and what do we do about it?
“Where we are now” is a transitional period different for both the world in general and education in particular. We are now in the “Knowledge Society,” (or sometimes called the “Knowledge Economy”) which means that advancement in life for both the individual and for communities, like ours, depends on a sound basic education and advanced skills in dealing with higher requirements for employment. It means that educators must develop new and more effective ways to meet those demands. It means that communities are involved in the process as much or more than the educational establishment, because communities that demand the best in education are the ones that get it. They are the ones that get the “better-paying jobs” that everybody wants.
It didn’t used to be that way. Not too many years ago, we didn’t get involved in how the schools were run; that was the teachers’ job. Now, we can’t escape getting involved if we want the best schools. That’s why I think it is critical that we make a firm commitment as individuals and a city-county community that we want the best education – for our children and our future here. That is why we should not be bashful about asking questions, such as yours, and when improvements are needed we should be prepared to support them. If we can keep asking questions, we may find some better answers.
So, thanks for your comments and for giving me a chance to get on my soapbox.
Dear Vic,
Thanks for posting your thoughts, I look forward to getting to know you through The Graphic.
If you ever want local photographs, let me know.
I think the 54% figure is disturbing, and you may quibble with the formula. To me the clear number that indicates how bad things are is the drop out rate. What is wrong with the system if 1/4 of the kids are bailing?
You state “A special program to further improve
that rate will be mentioned later.”
I would be interested.
Best Wishes,
Jim
VJ: The article, “What’s 9th Grade Academy Got To Do With Dropouts” is the first program mentioned here. Also, the “Every Third Grader Reads (Part 1 & 2)” treats the subject at an early stage. Hopefully, these will not be the last.