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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

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

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 ::

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