Nation 17 ... Washington ZERO

From PEW Research comes this Document HERE

Look at how poorly Washington State stacks up for graduation rates particularly for minorities ... and now the SBE is planning on increasing graduation requirements... I wonder when the SBE will plan on supporting students better???

The following are all PEW Research results from the above linked study.
Except I also calculated differentials given in RED (because largely we are in the red as in deficit condition)
Instead of fixing the current disaster by better supporting kids it appears the SBE plans on creating a bigger disaster.

Washington – State Graduation Brief

Graduation Profile 2003-04
This table reports state graduation rates and
demographics for specific student subgroups.
Graduation Rate by Student Group

Washington .. Nation
All Students (%) (%)
66.5 .. 69.9 .... -3.4

By Gender
Male 63.1 .. 66.0 .... -2.9
Female 71.8 .. 73.6 .... -1.8

By Race and Ethnicity
American Indian/Alaska Native <36.9 .. 49.3 .... -12.4
Asian/Pacific Islander 72.9 .. 80.2 .... -9.3
Hispanic 50.1 .. 57.8 .... -7.7
Black (not Hispanic) 45.7 .. 53.4 .... -7.7
White (not Hispanic) 70.0 .. 76.2 .... -6.2


As far as an ethnicity graduation achievement gap goes our white student rate is bad and other ethnicities are slightly worse or much worse. Could OSPI and the SBE have some responsibility in this?

By Gender and Race and Ethnicity
Male
American Indian/Alaska Native 32.1 .. 44.6 .... -12.5
Asian/Pacific Islander 66.8 .. 76.5 .... -9.7
Hispanic 43.8 .. 52.3 .... -8.5
Black (not Hispanic) 35.0 .. 46.2 .... -11.2
White (not Hispanic) 65.8 .. 72.3 .... -6.5

Female
American Indian/Alaska Native ** .. 50.0
Asian/Pacific Islander 76.3 .. 82.1 .... -5.8
Hispanic 53.2 .. 62.8 .... -9.5
Black (not Hispanic) 53.0 .. 59.6 .... -6.6
White (not Hispanic) 74.0 .. 77.9 .... -3.9

With the NBA basketball play-offs approaching lets look at the above score.
After 17 categories the score is:
Washington State ZERO ..... Nation 17 .... -17 points , which are all the points

Student Demographics (percent of student population in specified group)
Race/Ethnicity (%) (%)
American Indian/Alaska Native 2.7 .. 1.2 ..more by 1.5
Asian/Pacific Islander 7.9 .. 4.4 ..more by 3.5
Hispanic 12.3 .. 18.5 ..less by 6.2
Black (not Hispanic) 5.7 .. 17.2 ..less by 11.5
White (not Hispanic) 71.5 .. 58.7 ..more by 12.8

Other Characteristics
Poverty (Eligible for free or reduced-price lunch) 35.5 .. 40.2 ..less by 4.7
English-Language Learners 5.8 .. 9.5 ..less by 3.7
Special Education 10.8 .. 13.5 ..less by 2.7


To summarize Washington has a greater percentage of higher scoring groups = white kids and non poverty kids.

Washington has a smaller percentage of historically low scoring groups as in poverty kids, English language learners, special education, Hispanics Students, and Black Students. ..... Wouldn't you expect us to be achieving above the national average for graduation rate. I would ...
but Washington is 3.4% worse than the national average.


Take a look at the current OSPI Instructional Materials for Math process to get an understanding of why (Oh that's right it is all a big secret you can't. I'll post an update on that next)..... or look at the SBE plan to strengthen graduation requirements .... we have no plan to strengthen the kids... reminds be of our NO Energy Policy nation.

Also be sure and notice the plan for algebra II as a High School graduation requirement.... remember 50% of current 10th graders cannot pass the equivalent of a sub-high school level content math test on their first try... now it is proposed by the SBE that these students need Algebra II as a graduation requirement.

* Value not calculated because necessary data field(s) not reported in CCD or because of small group size.
** Value not reported because of insufficient data for reliable estimate