[Youth-list] Two Very Short Reports on Graduation Rates

[JMRab at aol.com]

Hi, folks. I have attached two two-page briefs on this critical issue, both  
from the web report below. One shows national data; the second shows CT data.  
These are VERY important for state and local education policy, as well as the 
 much higher level of accountability and transparency we must have as 
education  funding increases are debated. Best. JMG
 
HOW MANY STUDENTS REALLY GRADUATE FROM AMERICA’S HIGH  SCHOOLS?
“Understanding High School Graduation Rates”, a new publication from  the 
Alliance for Excellent Education, illustrates the discrepancies in  graduation 
rates reported by government and independent sources, examines why  this is 
important, and explains how certain federal policies have contributed to  the 
graduation rate confusion. “Misleading graduation rate calculations,  inadequate 
systems to track students throughout their education, and lack of  
accountability by the school are undermining efforts to understand and increase  the 
nation’s graduation rate,” says Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for  
Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia.  
 
The new report compares graduation rates reported by the states and the  U.S. 
Department of Education to those reported by independent researchers. While  
the average difference between state and independent sources is about 13  
percent, the gap ranges from a low of 4 percent to a high of 32 percent.  
Additionally, the report considers the costs of the dropout crisis and  identifies 
three core areas that are fundamental to calculating, reporting, and  improving 
accurate graduation rates: (1) The need for all states to use the same  
accurate graduation rate calculations; (2) The need for a state data system that  
tracks individual student data from the time students enter the educational  
system until they leave it; and (3) The need for federal policy that  meaningfully 
holds high schools accountable for improving student achievement on  test 
scores and increasing graduation rates so that low-performing students are  not 
unnecessarily held back or encouraged to leave school without a diploma.  
_http://www.all4ed.org/publications/wcwc/index.html_ 
(http://www.all4ed.org/publications/wcwc/index.html) 
 
cc. Gary Turco, Staff to Speaker Jim Amman
cc. Charter Oak Group, TA consultants to the Appropriations Committee for  RBA
 
Janice M. Gruendel, Ph.D.
Co-Chair, CT Early Childhood  Education Cabinet
Senior Youth Consultant
United Way of CT & Office  for Workforce Competitiveness
Home office: 203-481-9940
Blackberry:  203-824-4766
Mail to: 28 Juniper Point
Branford, CT  06405

Whatever you can do or dream  you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power 
and magic in it.   Goethe



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