High graduation rates: Schools create a culture that encourages students, empowers teachers
I wanted to note this report by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education on high schools graduating record numbers of students as it re-inforces that there are reforms that do work and that the culture of a school contributes to whether students graduate.
When you walk into a school, whether elementary, middle or high school, you can often get a sense of the culture. It is not the bulletin boards that convey the culture, but the attitude of teachers, the visibility and vitality of the principals – do they greet students by name, are they excited to talk about their schools or evasive, are teachers free to speak out in front of them – and the engagement of students in their class work.
I have not been to all these schools, but I have been to Grady, which is a high school that you leave wishing your own kids went there. It feels like a place where teens are encouraged to think about complex issues and where teachers are regarded as intellectuals with something to contribute not only to students, but to the school itself.
I missed the press conference Thursday but my colleague Gracie Bonds Staples attended, and here is part of her AJC story: You can go to Partnership’s Website to read the full report.
Fifteen Georgia high schools graduated at least 85 percent of their students in 2008, improving their graduation rates by at least 10 percentage points over five years, according to research by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.
The partnership released its findings Thursday at Grady High School, one of seven metro Atlanta schools cited in the report.“What this shows is that we really can have schools that can have extraordinary successes,” said Steve Dolinger, president of the Georgia Partnership, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on improving student achievement. “It’s not going to happen overnight, and it’s not going to happen without real hard work. Putting the right pieces in place and staying the course is what works.”
Although the state’s graduation rate has shown a steady increase over the last few years, Dolinger said these schools, in particular, helped lift the state average.
In addition to Grady, Mays High School in Atlanta, Redan High in DeKalb, Riverwood and Westlake in Fulton, Buford High in Buford and Loganville Hill in Walton County also made the list.
Had they extended to six the number of years the agency investigated, some 30 more schools would have shown similar increases, said Dolinger.
He said the partnership decided to take a closer look at the graduation rates in 2008 to pinpoint the schools that had shown significant and sustained increases between 2004 and 2008.
“When we started to look at the numbers, a group of schools stood out,” he said. “We wanted to know what they were doing and what were the commonalities we could share as best practices.”
The schools, for instance, worked with the community to create a culture of success, and administrators and teachers worked together to make the curriculum relevant and fostered relationships with students and their families.
“In many cases, graduation coaches took the percentages and turned them into names, helping students over the goal line,” Dolinger said.
Grady Principal Vincent Murray said the school formed a community-based tutorial program. Instead of waiting for students to come to them, they formed a team of teachers and made it visible in the community, he said.
“We found our kids wanted to take advantage of tutorial but home called them more strongly,” said Murray. “We put together a team of teachers and went to them. The participation rate has been phenomenal. We even had parents come out to find out what we were doing.”
A report released last summer by the Jobs for the Future advocacy group and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, a think tank working to focus attention on the national problem, found that one-third of Georgia high schools have low graduation rates.
Although high schools with low graduation rates exist in every state and in many communities, Georgia, the study found, was one of five states with the worst graduation rates. The others were Florida, Nevada, New Mexico and South Carolina.
Overall, the state’s rate has improved slightly, from 75.3 percent to 77.8 percent from 2008 to 2009.
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60 comments Add your comment
Dunwoody Mom
March 5th, 2010
8:35 am
Maureen, have you checked to make sure the data is correct in this? I know several schools who had graduation rates over 85% that are not on the list in the article.
Jennifer
March 5th, 2010
8:56 am
. I just perused the full document and maybe missed it – but what graduation rate formula was used ?
Jennifer
March 5th, 2010
8:59 am
Never mind. I found the grad rate calc!
shirley tyree
March 5th, 2010
9:01 am
I think that it is great that the schools have worked to increase the graduation rate in those schools but the best part is the culture they are creating to promote “positive thinking” and not just multiple choice. It is not the % of graduation so much as how hard they worked and planned to increase the graduation rate. We can now set our goals to have graduation% to the level of the highest of developed countries.
Philosopher
March 5th, 2010
9:11 am
Kind of sad, though, that as we finally begin to make real progress, the kids start to get the message,our brilliant governor and legislature pull the rug out from under them all! Only the wealthiest will be able to afford higher education and even that education will be tainted and diminished by huge student/teacher ratios and limited choices. What a message to send to the kids, Georgia!
Tonya T
March 5th, 2010
9:14 am
I must agree with Philosopher here. Just when the teachers are starting to gain some traction, the rug is being yanked from under them. Oh well…it was nice while it lasted!
Dawgs2010
March 5th, 2010
9:14 am
Are these schools with the high graduation rates in the same systems that were caught cheating recently? If they can spell their name and count to 10, then they will graduate in those districts.
Dunwoody Mom
March 5th, 2010
9:22 am
Oops – never mind – it always helps to read the criteria used – duh……..
Oh, really?
March 5th, 2010
9:23 am
I am very wary of the higher graduation rates, since I personally work at a school in which the principal has pretty much mandated that we have an 80% pass rate. Can you say, “grade inflation”?
Dunwoody Mom
March 5th, 2010
9:28 am
Hey, Maurreen, OT here, but I was looking through the link you provided above and clicked on an article about the Dougherty County School System having to file an Open Records Request to get GOSA to provide requested CRCT information. Interesting read – why the stall tactics from Mathers?
New Teacher Paradigm
March 5th, 2010
9:36 am
Phil – With the budget in shambles, what (real) solutions would you suggest as far as funding?
With this state dead-set against tax increases, what else can we cut?
Maureen Downey
March 5th, 2010
9:37 am
Dunwoody, That’s a good question. I’ll ask her.
Maureen
mystery poster
March 5th, 2010
9:38 am
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (does anyone remember what a “broken record” is?)
I am ALWAYS suspicious of a large, quick gain.
@ Oh really? & @ Dawgs 2010
March 5th, 2010
9:43 am
O@ Oh really & Dawgs 2010?
I think you missed the point. School culture is more important than bubble tests!
And BTW… Grady High faired very well in the erasure report…
If you want to be negative, look closely at some other schools. For example, Norcross High in Gwinnett registers about 1100 freshman and by the time the class is in 11th grade, that number drops to 500-600. Do the math. Graduation rates should track students from 8th grade on, because many students in 8th grade are old enough to drop out! My child visited that school for an entire day and came away saying,… ” That is a ghetto school. Please don’t make me go to school there!”
Luckily, I chose not to register him there. Just a different view on school culture…
shirley tyree
March 5th, 2010
9:47 am
We have no control over the economy and the budget cuts or all the other problems created by the unethical in the trenches but where I grew up the teacher to children ratio was a lot higher and we had a lot higher graduation/literacy rate. Lets focus on the how to dispite the problems. Teach our children to think and they will continue to learn through their adult life and continue to contribute to our society.
@ Oh really? & @ Dawgs 2010
March 5th, 2010
9:51 am
O@ Oh really & Dawgs 2010?
I think you missed the point. School culture is more important than bubble tests!
And BTW… Grady High faired very well in the erasure report…
If you want to be negative, look closely at some other schools. For example, Norcross High in Gwinnett registers about 1100 freshman and by the time the class is in 11th grade, that number drops to 500-600. Do the math. Graduation rates should track students from 8th grade on, because many students in 8th grade are old enough to drop out! My child visited that school for an entire day and came away saying,… ” That is a ghetto school. Please don’t make me go to school there!”
Luckily, I chose not to register him there. Just a different view on school culture…
Sorry if this posts twice…. filter, you know!
@ Oh really? & @ Dawgs 2010
March 5th, 2010
9:53 am
O@ Oh really & Dawgs 2010?
I think you missed the point. School culture is more important than bubble tests!
And BTW… Grady High faired very well in the erasure report…
If you want to be negative, look closely at some other schools. For example, Norcross High in Gwinnett registers about 1100 freshman and by the time the class is in 11th grade, that number drops to 500-600. Do the math. Graduation rates should track students from 8th grade on, because many students in 8th grade are old enough to drop out! My child visited that school for an entire day and came away saying,… ” That is a ghetto school. Please don’t make me go to school there!”
Luckily, I chose not to register him there. Just a different view on school culture…
Filter,… third time’s a charm?
@ Oh really? & @ Dawgs 2010
March 5th, 2010
9:54 am
Take four…
@ Oh really? & @ Dawgs 2010
March 5th, 2010
9:55 am
My comments are lost in the filter?
@ Oh really? & @ Dawgs 2010
March 5th, 2010
9:56 am
O@ Oh really & Dawgs 2010?
I think you missed the point. School culture is more important than bubble tests!
And BTW… Grady High faired very well in the erasure report…
If you want to be negative, look closely at some other schools. For example, Norcross High in Gwinnett registers about 1100 freshman and by the time the class is in 11th grade, that number drops to 500-600. Do the math. Graduation rates should track students from 8th grade on, because many students in 8th grade are old enough to drop out! My child visited that school for an entire day and came away saying,… ” That is a ghetto school. Please don’t make me go to school there!”
I chose not to register him there. Just a different view on school culture…
Richard
March 5th, 2010
10:00 am
It is my belief that for the long term our number one priority should be education. Those dropouts will inflate the entitlement lines and be a burden on us all. We are not keeping up with countries like India and China when it comes to education. The off shoring of our skilled jobs will continue. If we find a way to reverse that trend, there will be no skilled workers to meet the demand.
Reality
March 5th, 2010
10:01 am
ATTENTION: With this good news, is everyone forgeting today’s reality? By that, I mean the budget cuts to education! The news reports on DeKalb County so very much, but there are much worse things to come from Fulton County.
Class sizes are going waayyyyyy up. Teachers are being laid off (reduction in force, or RIF). Teachers are still getting forlough days. And many, many other.
How will this impact our graduation rates? Or, our scores on those standardized tests?
The AJC needs to report on Fulton County School System cuts. One of the many unfair things they are planning is very unequitable between North and South Fulton. They are allocating only one security guard per school to North Fulton while they are allocating two security guards per school to South Fulton.
Why isn’t the AJC reporting on these important facts??????
@ Oh really? & @ Dawgs 2010
March 5th, 2010
10:06 am
^^ Talking about Norcross, not Grady!
Jackson
March 5th, 2010
10:10 am
Good grief. We get your friggin’ point, okay?! No need to add you post a zillion times.
stooge
March 5th, 2010
10:15 am
“Ghetto school”? ….lovely child
catlady
March 5th, 2010
10:16 am
Mrs. Downey: How do they count kids booted to alternative high school? How about those who drop out from alternative high school? Do those count as dropouts from the originating high school? How about night school? Do those enrolled in night school still count as enrolled at the originating high school?
Reality
March 5th, 2010
10:17 am
The AJC needs to report on a core issue that will quickly reverse the grad rates (along with other things)…. namely the huge budget cuts to eduction. They report a lot on DeKalb Co. but Fulton Co. cuts are much deeper – much larger class sizes, fewer electives offered, etc.
Fulton is planning a reduction in force (RIF) of teachers to go along with more furlough days and the like.
This does not look good for test scores or for grad rates, going forward.
catlady
March 5th, 2010
10:19 am
Lost post
New Teacher Paradigm
March 5th, 2010
10:26 am
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/05/navarrette.teacher.firings/index.html?hpt=C2
B. Killebrew
March 5th, 2010
10:37 am
Norcross High is a great school.
Peachtree Corners and Norcross are lucky and should be proud!
credit recovery
March 5th, 2010
10:45 am
A big increase is from the credit recovery courses students can take now (online computer self paced), and if they just pass the GSHGT move them out. Admin knows 2014 is coming up and there are “PLANS” for hitting the 100% mark. Not saying its right or wrong, Im just sayin topics have been discussed to hit that mark. The other key part is the GA legis. passing a multi-track graduation path; but if they do not then the politicans want GA public schools not to met AYP and be placed on “needs improvement” to start a voucher program.
WISE
March 5th, 2010
11:12 am
Ghetto school? Norcross? if he thinks that then that lets me know how much culture you expose her too….zero. Norcross is a very good school and diverse. lets just say your son better never go downtown he might get lost and think hes in africa or San Francisco
IwANTsOMETHING4nOTHING
March 5th, 2010
12:20 pm
PLATO is the credit recovery we use at our school.
@ WISE
March 5th, 2010
12:59 pm
FYI – My child is black. We came from a stellar school system out of state, and it has nothing to do with diversity. This article is about school culture, not diversity. Race has nothing to do with this.
John
March 5th, 2010
1:21 pm
I would love to see the graduation rates by race. Or by schools that are mostly white or black. The difference would be huge. So sad that the thugs don’t go to school but rob, sell drugs, and kill instead.
Angela
March 5th, 2010
1:31 pm
Wouldn’t the graduation rates rise if you’re getting a little help from your educators? I mean, I know only primary and middle grades CCRT has been the hot topic lately but if you look at the standardized test scores for high school students it’s sad. How are the graduation rates increasing when these test scores states they can barely read and write?
Oh, really?
March 5th, 2010
1:34 pm
@Angela – see my previous comment to answer your question…
td
March 5th, 2010
1:47 pm
Children live up to the expectations that are placed upon them. When the expectation is established early is life that you will do well in school and not be a problem in the classroom then the child usually does well. I have been in very diverse schools and my kids now go to almost all white schools and when the parents establish these couple of values and backs the school up with their participation then the diversity does not matter because those are the schools that do well. You can ask any teacher in any school in America and they will tell you the same thing. When the parent cares, is involved, checks the child’s homework and backs them up the student succeeds and when the parent is not involved then the child struggles. It does not matter if the child is white, black, Hispanic or Asian. It does not matter if there are 5 students or 50 students in the classroom and you have the best teacher or a average teacher the results will not be a whole lot different.
Shar
March 5th, 2010
2:07 pm
My child graduated from Grady in 2006, smack dab in the center of the study period. This report does not reflect the Grady I came to know quite well, starting with the “leadership” of principal Vincent Murray, who is a blithering idiot and hides in his office for fear that someone might ask him to do something. Grady has its successes, and my child’s class had a very strong college placement rate, but that had to do with a few astoundingly dedicated and gifted teachers combined with a great – and very diverse – group of kids. Sadly, Grady has retreated from that level in the past 3 years as well.
Angela
March 5th, 2010
2:08 pm
I agree with the current plan to close underperforming schools. I mean how long do tax payers have to suffer increases in areas where the parents are uninvolved and the educators ill-equipped to perform their duties? Everyone had to know at some point citizens would get fed up with these underperforming schools and please stop giving kids a way out with these “alternative schools” and shut them down also. No one in this whole blog needs to wonder why american kids can’t compete with foreign students. Many american parents make excuses after excuses for their failures and the kids will suffer. Resonating throughout the u.s. is higher fees for college education and low performing students won’t make the cut. It’s sad but if I were a lawmaker I’d cut underperforming schools first also.
highschoolteacher
March 5th, 2010
2:22 pm
Sadly there probably is some grade inflation going on with these scores. The GHSGT and the EOCTs are pointless, there are ways around passing the course. Last year abou this time the AJC had a report about students do very well in the classroom but they were failing the End of Course Tests. With NCLB adminstrators are put against a wall, that being meet the numbers or risk the “NI” list and possibly losing your job when the state steps in, so guess what they do, have teachers pass students. This concept is nothing new, happened last year at MLK in Dekalb and N.Clayton earlier this year. We as teachers can only put our best foot foward and establish the gound rules of what is expected. Just as Td stated, when parents are actively involved in their childs education that child succeeds.
One thing I am curious about is, does “ghetto school” me black? And if so why does the AJC blogs always turn into that but I bet you for every “black” school you can find, I’ll find you three “white” schools in rural Georgia that have numbers just as bad or worse.
John
March 5th, 2010
2:29 pm
“highschoolteacher” you must be a moron. It is a FACT that white students to better in school then blacks. The black schools are the ones with problems like bad grades, violence, etc. They are also mainly the ones where the teachers changed the test answers. Get your facts straight.
highschoolteacher
March 5th, 2010
2:30 pm
@ Angela if we were to cut these underperforming schools as you purpose, where will all those students go? I’m guessing to other schools which would led to over crowding and a need to build another school and hire more teachers, which would not ease the tax burden. The concept sounds good but I’m not sure how it would work.
Angela
March 5th, 2010
2:37 pm
I agree that the focus is on inner city schools but I’m sure if you widen the probe you’ll find that white schools are just as guilty. Maybe the reason why the spotlight doesn’t shine on them is because Channel 2 and Fox5 News aren’t there for other things (i.e. violence at schools, etc.).
If parents are involved children do well. It’s a no-brainer. However, if your parent has no clue in the value of an education then unless that child somehow crosses paths with the right person, they will be just as lost as the parent. In california I was on a substitute teachers roster and I was amazed that the system was using substitutes as permanent teachers because the state had laid off 2,000 educators and more cuts were to come. This was in South Central LA where no one wants to teach. It’s so sad. Now with tuition increases at colleges and universities the trend is moving towards only those with money are afforded education.
Angela
March 5th, 2010
2:49 pm
John white students do not perform better than blacks or anyone for that matter. It’s all on how you were raised and what resources you were afforded. I thought that asians were the brightest until I saw for my own eyes in high school, undergraduate and graduate schools how the game works. People in these environments search out the “smart students” and stick to them like parasites copying work during exams and homework and they pass with high marks but when they have to perform on their own they fail. My asian friend made A’s all the way through undergrad school but when it came time to sit for board exams she failed four times (to date she still hasn’t passed). A couple of white, one ethiopian and a filipino in graduate school were “a click” and sat together during exams, were always in the same case study groups, and work was identical when it was passed in. The professor would also say that you can cheat all you like but at some point you’ll have to prove yourself. That group of individuals is still in graduate school trying to get out. They can’t properly research, have poor writing skills and don’t understand the subject. To answer your question how they got into graduate school, well today you can get in without taking the GRE if you have a stellar GPA. If you’ve don’t nothing but cheated through undergrad like they did you will. You will look great on paper.
So John you need to get your facts straight. Cheating is not relegated to blacks only and for the record there were whites involved also.
highschoolteacher
March 5th, 2010
2:53 pm
@ John my arguement was that grade inflation is occuring and that we should get away from statements like “ghetto school” which we know means black, much like the term “thug” but I would like to read that scholarly article and the research behind that FACT that you speak of. A fact is that several districts are responsible for grade inflation http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2009/02/03/student_testing_teacher_scores.html%3Fcxntlid%3Dhomepage_tab_newstab and according to the 2009 test scores there is only a point difference between Southwest Dekalb ACT scores and McEachern.
Secondly Monroe High and Westlake average was the same, which goes back to my other arguement, economics has a large affect on student achievement. But instead of discussing a real issue, such has how do we close this gap, you want to make racial divides
Me Again!
March 5th, 2010
3:00 pm
May I repeat?…
This article is about school culture, not diversity. Race has nothing to do with this.
highschoolteacher
March 5th, 2010
3:04 pm
Me Again! I agree
catlady
March 5th, 2010
3:36 pm
Mrs. Downey: How do they count kids booted to alternative high school? How about those who drop out from alternative high school? Do those count as dropouts from the originating high school? How about night school? Do those enrolled in night school still count as enrolled at the originating high school?
Political Spectator
March 5th, 2010
3:48 pm
Maureen,
Will you please share with the bloggers the formula used to determine our graduation rate? I think the bloggers will be surprised.