US high school graduation rate climbs to 69.2 percent

[Old Coot]

Source: Christian Science Monitor

When high school seniors finally grasp their hard-earned diplomas, an average of 3 out of 10 classmates aren't beside them. In some communities in the United States, more than half of high-school students don't make it to graduation.

But despite the complex, stubborn problems behind those numbers, a new report shows a decade's worth of modest gains in graduation rates. In 1996, the national on-time graduation rate was 66.4 percent; by 2006, that figure had risen to 69.2 percent. Much greater gains were made by thousands of school districts, including some struggling with high levels of poverty.

The district-by-district analysis is part of "Diplomas Count 2009," the fourth annual report on graduation rates by Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center, a nonprofit in Bethesda, Md.

"The good news is that a large number of school districts are making progress in boosting graduation rates, but nationally we're still largely flat-lining ... so a lot more work to be done," says John Bridgeland, president and CEO of Civic Enterprises, a public-policy firm in Washington that has also studied dropouts.

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0609/p02s13-usgn.html

[ananda]

1. Too bad that most of the diplomas are worthless.

nt

[kestrel91316]

2. Are we supposed to be PROUD of that number??

[snappyturtle]

6. I agree...my first reaction: Whoopee! What are these kids doing...the ones

who have dropped out?

[kestrel91316]

8. Those must be the ones who think flipping burgers is a noble calling.

[snappyturtle]

13. No. it can't be burger flipping; too many recent college grads filling the slots. nt

[Abq_Sarah]

21. It's nothing to celebrate

That's for sure. Those kids have no idea how a little thing like a diploma can impact their futures.

[Xipe Totec]

3. No child left behind? Yah, right... n/t

[Ms. Toad]

15. Around here, that's part of it

A lot of high school students who got all their credits, and did well enough to qualify for a diploma for every other reason, didn't graduate solely because they had not passed the exams that were implemented as part of NCLB

[Ian David]

4. Why drop-out when there are no jobs available? n/t

[Deja Q]

5. Should jobs come back, they'll really be in a lurch...

in theory. Some of CEOs are dropouts, so it's all good either way...

[ejpoeta]

7. i wonder how many of those kids are they just passing even though they really shouldn't be.

I am just wondering, because I have a nephew that has been doing horribly the past couple of years. And they just keep passing him up to the next grade anyway. He takes summer school practically every year, and he is in fifth this year. But it just seems no matter how bad he is doing grade wise, they just send him up to the next grade. I can't understand that, because, as I told my sister, they are just setting him up for failure. The things in the next grade build on this one. And if he doesn't get this one, how the hell is he going to be able to get the next level!!

[tinymontgomery]

18. At my high school, the principal has the right

At my high school, the principal has the right to change a grade. So they always change a seniors failing grade to passing that way they get them out of the school. I had two kids that he did that too. They should have failed due to non attendance and poor work, but the principal flat out told me he wanted them gone.

[Fearless]

9. This number, low as it is, isn't the failure of a student or even of their teacher...

It's their parents...

Just saying.

[Posteritatis]

16. Because only two people can possibly be at fault for something like that (nt)

[XemaSab]

10. And how far have they cranked back the graduation standards?

:shrug:

[rainbow4321]

11. Dallas ISD grad rate dropped to 40.7 (2006 stats)

All the money poured into DISD and 60% don't even graduate???


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/DN-disdgrad_09met.ART.State.Edition1.50b4ec4.html

The report, created by the nonprofit Maryland-based Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, indicates that DISD's graduation rate is down from 50.8 percent in 2005 to 40.7 percent in 2006.

Of the nation's 50 largest school districts, 33 posted graduation rates at least 10 percentage points higher than expected, according to the report.

Also of note in the report is that the national graduation rate dropped more than 1 percentage point for the first time in the past decade.

The Detroit school system had the poorest 2006 graduation rate at 26.8 percent, followed by Philadelphia at 39.1 percent. Dallas had the third-lowest rate at 40.7 percent.

[Sabriel]

12. No so great for some, when you look at demographics

"Non-Hispanic whites gained 4 percentage points in the decade examined, rising to a graduation rate of 76.1 percent; the Hispanic rate rose 1.7 points, to 55 percent; the rate among blacks rose 2.4 points, to 51.2 percent."

So, whites still had the greatest gain.

Depressing. Welcome to the (enduring) cycle of poverty.

[LibDemAlways]

14. A little off topic, but a good place to bring this up.

I'm a substitute teacher in a "Blue Ribbon" suburban district. One day recently I was assigned to a high school English class made up of graduating seniors, and asked what their future plans are. Most are going on to college, except one boy who told me he's an exchange student who would be returning to Sweden. I asked if he was going to attend a university in Sweden. He laughed and said he'd be going back to high school to repeat senior year. It seems Sweden won't recognize his year at a public school in the states because "it's not up to Swedish standards."

As to the topic at hand, it's shameful that so many fall through the cracks. In my local district high school kids who aren't doing well are shuttled off to "Continuation School" so the high school can perpetuate the myth that its students are all high achievers.

[cslinger59]

17. Just came back from my cousin's graduation

Out of his class of 120ish something like 20 or 22 students were not graduating. What I mean by that is not meeting the academic requirements to graduate!!!!! Not that they were not allowed at the ceremony for whatever reason.

What the hell!!! that is a huge number for such a small class. Almost 20%!!!

I gotta say I think the parents are way more to blame then the schools. I would be a paraplegic now if I hadn't worked hard enough to at least squeak by and graduate, my parents would have made sure of it.

[LeftHander]

19. Don't Ask (to see the ciriculum) Don't Tell (about it either)....

Whole lot of fudging going on in urban school districts....

[Vidar]

20. Back when I was teaching I called that a D+.