I recently Posted a summary of PEW research on WA graduation rates from 2004.
Now David Orbits has gone the extra mile and dug up data for 2005.
Good Luck on finding data for 2006 ...... If Dave cannot find it it is probably not there...
That certainly has not stopped the SBE from publishing all kinds of stuff on meaningful high school diploma ... Core 24 and Algebra II for graduation ...
I guess they do not need much data or research..
The following is from Dave.
--------------------------------------------------
See page 22 of the attached report. Table 7 says about 7.4% left to take the GED for the Graduating Class of 05.
It comes from http://www.k12.wa.us/DataAdmin/
Note that this report is for the 2004-05 school year and was published in Sept 2006.
Where is the report from Sept 2007 that should have covered the 2005-2006 school year?
When I inquired about the Sept 07 report I received a pointer to the spreadsheet data that does not include the data for Table 7. Apparently no report has been written (or if written has not been published).
See attached mail for a pointer to the spread sheets.
I have attached just the State wide summary page from the “bySchool” spreadsheet for the class of 06. For all students you can see the extended graduation rate of 75.1% which includes late grads but I don’t think it includes GED students. Note that the extended graduation rate for the class of 05 was 79.3% (see table 9, page 28 of the attached report). This decline of 4.2 percentage points might explain why there is no report for the 2005-06 school year. Also note the drop of 8 points for black students, see table below for the other categories.
All Sudents -4.2%
Amer.Indian -6.6%
Asian/Pacific Is. -4.7%
Black -8.0%
Hispanic -2.1%
White -3.8%
LimitedEnglish -9.0%
Lowincome -7.3%
Specialeducation -4.9%
Female -4.4%
Male -4.0%
Given the decline between classes of 05 and 06 I would expect the extended graduation rates for 08 to be worse because the WASL graduation requirement kicked in and undoubtedly discouraged some students. The data for 08 won’t be out for another year at least.
It should be clear that a higher dropout rate will boost the WASL pass rate so the latest results for the class of 08 are highly distorted. Even if every student passed the WASL when you factor in the students that dropped out the pass rate can be no higher than the extended graduation rate (assuming all the drop-out students would fail the WASL)
And where is the report for the class of 06?
Submitted by
-- Dave Orbits
Higher turnover rates at schools indicate higher dropout rates or at least a delay in graduation time. This data would greatly add to identifying high schools that contributed to academic failure.
ReplyDeleteHigher turnover rates would help identify schools that were raising their test scores, not with better curriculum, but singling out low-achieving students and minorities.
The graduation rate is deceptive, since it fails to measure an absolute rate. Like how many original enrollees actually graduate from the school by 12th grade?
Turnover rates are easier to measure than graduation rates, also schools would have more incentive to teach kids, rather than pass them off into failing programs.
The kids acknowledge more than the adults, dropping out of school is a big problem in Washington schools.
Schools that have high turnover rates, also misuse federal funds, so there should be penalties because a student who does not graduate from this school, must face the prospect of finding a school that will educate them.
ReplyDeleteIf a quarter of the students who enroll in a school are Latino and by the end of four years, less than 5% graduate - is that school making a contribution to the community or is this the same stupidity as OSPI empty-headed rhetoric or NCTM's psychodelic-vision?
Bergeson's ears grow longer, despite holding her nose.
ReplyDelete- I told that cricket I wanted to be a real rabbit and then I stepped on him.
OSPI acknowledges a rabbit conspiracy.
As proof of their theory, they point out that NCTM really stands for 'Need Carrots To Multiply.'
signed, Here comes everybody
We wouldn't want a dismal statistic like drop out rates taint an election year. Go Bergeson Not!
ReplyDeleteSee the Core 24 it is clear there is little interest in educating all the students....
ReplyDeletePerhaps a 50% drop out rate can be coming.... as even more courses are watered down, in this insanity to fake rigor through requirements.
Dan
Who knows maybe OSPI welcomes a 50% drop out rate - it make the WASL scores look brighter.
ReplyDelete