As we expected, state says grad rate rose to 80.8 percent. Do you buy it?
As we predicted based on the governor’s plan to fan out across the state today to announce the news, the state’s high school graduation rate is an an all-time high, according to the state Department of Education.
I will add the usual caution that Georgia’s method of counting dropouts — the leaver rate — is flawed and misses kids. Because it tends to undercount dropouts or rely on sketchy dropout data, the leaver rate produces an inflated rate of success.
A new national model that follows kids through high school — the more accurate “cohort rate” — is expected to correct those omissions. When Georgia moves to the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate, we expect to see a lower graduation rate. The methodology takes the number of students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma, and divides it by the number of students who entered high school four years earlier, adjusting for transfers in and out, emigres and deceased students. No longer can schools rely on a one year snapshot of their graduates to report their grad rates.
Before a student can be eliminated from a school’s roll, the school must provide written confirmation that the student has enrolled in another school or in an educational program that culminates in a regular high school diploma. In the absence of such accountability, local schools can continue to disguise their failures by claiming that students who have left school have simply moved.
However, the evidence is that we are still graduating more students, even if we are not yet graduating eight out of 10 of the students who start high school in the state. So, I think Georgia can stand proud today.
With that background, here is the state release:
The state of Georgia’s graduation rate rose to an all-time high of 80.8 percent in 2010 – an increase of two percentage points over last year, and more than 17 percentage points since 2003, when the graduation rate was 63.3 percent. Gov. Sonny Perdue and state School Superintendent Brad Bryant announced the results today while recognizing three schools throughout the state that saw their own graduation rates increase dramatically in recent years.
“There is nothing greater we can do for a young Georgian than encourage them to stay in school,” Gov. Perdue said. “We did something no other state had even thought of – put a graduation coach in every middle and high school and focused their efforts on students at risk of dropping out. Even with our dramatic enrollment growth, 4,000 fewer students dropped out this year than in 2003.”
Governor Perdue set a goal of reaching the 80 percent rate by the time he left office. In 2003, 65,213 students received a high school diploma in Georgia. Last school year, 91,561 students graduated with a high school diploma, meaning 26,348 more students graduated with a full diploma this year than in 2003.
“Georgia’s children are our state’s most valuable resource and today’s announcement is a great testament to the efforts of parents and teachers who work tirelessly to ensure our students succeed,” said Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. “Together we can continue to provide the tools and flexibility they need to ensure every Georgia student has the opportunity to achieve and gain the skills they need to compete in the 21st Century global economy.”
“Improving the graduation rate is the top education priority in the state of Georgia,” said Superintendent Bryant. “Our high school principals, teachers and students should take a lot of pride in the fact that more students than ever are graduating in Georgia. This is a testament to a lot of collaboration and hard work by our teachers and students.”
Graduation Rate Rises for All Students
All groups of students saw significant increases in their graduation rate in 2010. Georgia’s African-American students had a graduation rate of 75.8 percent, up more than 23 percentage points from 2003. The state’s Hispanic students had a graduation rate of 77.6 percent, up more than 29 percentage points from 2003. And Georgia’s economically-disadvantaged students raised their graduation rate to 76 percentage in 2010, up more than 24 percentage points from 2003.
“The improvement in our graduation rate is happening across the board for all students in every subgroup,” Superintendent Bryant added. “We are making steady progress and giving more students than ever the tools they need to be successful after high school.”
Governor Perdue and Superintendent Bryant presented the three schools with $3,000 grants towards graduation improvement programs, a plaque and t-shirts for the seniors and faculty members, all made possible by AT&T. The three schools were selected for their improved graduation rates and academics, including progress on End of Course Tests and postsecondary enrollment.
The progress in graduation rates at each high school visited today is below:
- North Hall High School – 74 percent in 2003 to over 94 percent this year.
- Eagle’s Landing High School – 74 percent in 2003 to over 90 percent this year
- Glynn Academy – 56 percent in 2004 to over 80 percent this year
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
88 comments Add your comment
ACC_12 Booster
October 26th, 2010
11:16 am
What?….You don’t like good news? A sharp INCREASE in the graduation rates is most certainty better than a sharp DECREASE. If this is true and the numbers haven’t been skewed to reflect what they really don’t (government manipulate numbers to their benefit? No way!), then congrats are in order to the State of Georgia, but given a knack by government entities to fudge the numbers to make themselves look good, I can why you might be a little skeptical, Maureen.
Dr NO
October 26th, 2010
11:18 am
The numbers are bogus, BS and I dont care.
EnoughAlready
October 26th, 2010
11:20 am
All lies, nothing but lies. I suggest Perdue get his investigators (who are looking into the APS cheating scandal) to look into this. I smell a bunch of RATS.
Sherry
October 26th, 2010
11:20 am
I do NOT believe this!! After 12 years of being involved in many things that inform me of corruption in schools, there is NO WAY this could happen, especially since there’s a big tadoo about corruption of test scores, etc. I don’t see why they would be honest about this, either.
Maureen Downey
October 26th, 2010
11:21 am
@ACC, I think the rates have risen, but I suspect that when we move to the cohort method of tracking high school graduation, Georgia will fall a bit. When I have talked to DOE about this, the position is that while the rate may not be as high as they say, it still is improving. I think that much is true.
Maureen
DeKalb Educated
October 26th, 2010
11:22 am
Yea! Always a good number to see rise. Now, if we can employment figure rise as well.
Mike
October 26th, 2010
11:25 am
Not one iota. It does help explain why proof of Graduation Rate manipulation on Hall has been totally ignored by the Governor’s Office school accountabilty people though.
Cheaters DO win! At least in good ol GA.
V for Vendetta
October 26th, 2010
11:29 am
I agree with what the other posters have said: this is BS at best. Even if that number is legit, it reflects nothing more than a dumbing down of our standards. It is not evidence of any kind of achievement.
Sherry
October 26th, 2010
11:30 am
Mike you are so right. I expect a scandal investigation to break out on this in a couple of years.
former APS teacher
October 26th, 2010
11:33 am
It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you lower standards. . .
Simple Jack
October 26th, 2010
11:41 am
No! I would love to see the criteria used to determine those numbers. Kids are dropping out or failing out of school daily. No way the numbers have improved. Just more political BS being used to make us feel that all is well. REMEMBER, TAKE OUT THE TRASH ON NOVEMBER 2ND!
bart
October 26th, 2010
11:45 am
I don’t believe anything that comes out of Perdue’s mouth. I would like to see some objective data on this; but I would suspect that while graduation rates have probably risen, this may be an exaggeration.
catlady
October 26th, 2010
11:48 am
I have serious doubts as to the veracity of these numbers.
Jim Tavegia
October 26th, 2010
11:49 am
This is a surprising number considering what I see in school these days. The question is what are they counting as an actual “diploma”? I’ve heard that 30% of freshman college students are taking remedial Math and English classes their freshman year, so how can that be?
A Teacher
October 26th, 2010
11:55 am
Students are given all kinds of chances to graduate. If you fail a class you can go to night school or do some kind of computer class to gain credit. With all of this, there is no reason why graduation rates should not rise.
Vince
October 26th, 2010
11:56 am
You folks are incredible. I would hate to go through life as a negative, doubting Thomas.
Geez……
lulu
October 26th, 2010
12:02 pm
There is no method of tracking students throughout their education, so any number they come up with is going to be inaccurate. Perhaps a higher percentage of high school seniors who complete the year at the same school are graduating, but many schools elect to “transfer” would-be drop-outs to alternative schools, where they promptly drop out, thus enabling them to count the students as transfers rather than drop-outs. Alternative schools are often come-as-you-will and don’t track drop-outs at all. So … no, I don’t believe it. I wish it were true – and maybe it is, but their methods of data collection are crap, so any conclusions they make are crap, too.
Intown
October 26th, 2010
12:02 pm
Sure. Kids may be “graduating” because no child left behind means every child gets promoted regardless of whether they can actually read or learned any darn thing. Teachers are just learning how to game the system by cheating on tests or otherwise. Blame them if you want to but, their careers depend on doing the impossible with kids whose parents don’t send them to school prepared to learn. What do you expect in a hyper-metrics driven environment.
Pompano
October 26th, 2010
12:03 pm
@Vince – we’re just smart enough to question anything coming out of the mouths of our elected officials. A much better alternative than those who simply walk around with their heads up their…
butch
October 26th, 2010
12:06 pm
The rates may be lower than stated, but higher than in earlier years. Some of the credit should go to the poor economy. There are few jobs for people with HS diplomas, and fewer for those without.
Roach
October 26th, 2010
12:08 pm
It does sound eerily similar to what we heard from Beverly Hall and APS–a surge in the graduation rate–which, oh by the way, coincides with (1) a new mandate tying the graduation rate to funding formulas and (2)a surge in “transfers” which conveniently lowers the dropout rate and inflates the graduation rate.
I hope things are better, but an administration that cared about ccountability would celebrate cautiously and would be transparent about the limitations of their methodology. People could rally around an administration like that.
Yep
October 26th, 2010
12:10 pm
I agree with Vince.
paulding resident
October 26th, 2010
12:12 pm
OF COURSE THE GRADUATION RATE INCREASED. OUR STUDENTS GET TO RE-TAKE TESTS AND USE THE HIGHEST SCORE TO GRADUATE. SO DO THE SAVANNAH STUDENTS AND OTHER METRO AREA SCHOOLS. IF YOU CAN RETAKE THE TESTS MULTIPLE TIMES, WHY WOULDN’T YOU GRADUATE? BUT, HAVE THEY LEARNED ANYTHING?
Proud Black Man
October 26th, 2010
12:16 pm
Such vitriol!
Rick in Grayson
October 26th, 2010
12:17 pm
Why allow students to retake tests? Do they get a chance to redo their assignments at their jobs?
Actually Positive
October 26th, 2010
12:19 pm
The problem with the calculations is that is being used as a political tool. Can Purdue point to anything specific that he did to increase the graduation rate? It’s great to graduate more kids as long as they actually learn something when they graduate.
Paulding resident too
October 26th, 2010
12:22 pm
My child graduated and went to college. Yes, she was able to re-take tests and use the highest scores. She was also in AP classes, although I don’t think she was ready for them. She’s now having a difficult time in college because she’s not ready for the curriculum. Sure, she graduated. But, she wasn’t prepared. And, yes, that’s partly my fault as well.
Actually Positive
October 26th, 2010
12:28 pm
Right, No child left behinds prohibits schools from keeping kids back. Ask your local teachers! They have to promote the kid whether he knows the material or not.
Hank
October 26th, 2010
12:34 pm
The DOE under Cox and Perdue manipulated the pass rate on the state tests as well as the actual content of state tests to make them easier to pass in order to manufacture artificial success. In order to see the real progress, or lack thereof, look at the state SAT scores compared to the rest of the nation. Why doesn’t the state post student performance on the ITBS any more? The truth is that judged on any external measure, education in Georgia is the same or worse than it was when Perdue took office.
John
October 26th, 2010
12:40 pm
Students who pass the Graduation Test will not be held back for grades, absences, or discipline. Schools would be shooting themselves in the foot, if they did. NCLB has to go!
They Graduate But..
October 26th, 2010
12:40 pm
Oh they graduate, but the Top students are in remediation classes in College and want extensions on papers and projects and believe they can retake tests…
Love conquers all
October 26th, 2010
12:43 pm
More smoke blown up the @$$……
Terri Jones
October 26th, 2010
12:44 pm
I can see how the graduation rate is up – (1) standards are down (2) high school graduation test is on a 5th grade level (3) everybody graduates – regardless if you can read or write. It is a tragedy how education has spiraled down to “car washing students’ – pass through and get yourself a diploma. Ask the technical colleges admission offices – they are the ones having to deal with students who graduated with honors and read on a 5th grade level. At one high school – there were 86 graduates and 36 were “honor” graduates. You do the math!!!!
lovelyliz
October 26th, 2010
12:46 pm
Learn the lesson from the so-called Texas Miracle:
It was called the “Texas Miracle,” a phrase you may remember because President Bush wanted everyone to know about it during his 2000 presidential campaign.
It was an approach to education that was showing amazing results, particularly in Houston, where dropout rates plunged and test scores soared.
Houston School Superintendent Rod Paige was given credit for the schools’ success, by making principals and administrators accountable for how well their students did.
Once he was elected president, Mr. Bush named Paige as secretary of education. And Houston became the model for the president’s “No Child Left Behind” education reform act.
Now, as Correspondent Dan Rather reported last winter, it turns out that some of those miraculous claims which Houston made were wrong.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/06/60II/main591676.shtml
http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/oldepaa/redirect/?v=8&n=41
Horsie
October 26th, 2010
12:51 pm
Upeeple be so dum I gradiueted from Alanta Skools an passed my Crct reel high on reeding langweg arts to i be reel proud to reprecent ATL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
East Cobb Parent
October 26th, 2010
12:51 pm
@ Rick in Grayson – Maureen did a blog on the retesting that is status quo for GA, Re-testing: Does it penalize the kids who get it right the first time? Is school about learning well or testing well?
Free Market Champion
October 26th, 2010
1:05 pm
“There are three kinds of lies – lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
- Benjamin Disraeli (British Statesman)
I would add to that Government Statistics – the greatest lies of all.
Capt. Call Out
October 26th, 2010
1:12 pm
@Free Market Chapmion –
It’s tough to hear your complaints with your mouth being so busy fellating the effigy of John Galt you have in your office.
Fred
October 26th, 2010
1:13 pm
This is the type of misleading information the “over paid” people at the DOE, the superintendents, their assistants, and the principals do so they can convince the politicians that they are doing a “wonderful” job and deserve their inflated salaries!!!
Bill
October 26th, 2010
1:20 pm
Poor Democrats, can’t stand to see a Republican accomplish something that they make a priority but could not accomplish.
Cathy
October 26th, 2010
1:22 pm
The reported number of graduates in 2010 was 91,561. Yet the reported enrollment for 9th graders in the fall of the 2006-2007 school year was 145,883 – or a graduation rate of 63 percent. Is this the new Georgia math?
Harriett
October 26th, 2010
1:27 pm
Check the home school rate for students being withdrawn to home school when their grades, credits, and attendance are so poor it would prevent them from graduating or keeping their license. There are more 16 and 17 year olds moving from public school to home school to prevent damage to a schools graduation rates that it’s become a joke.
Actually Positive
October 26th, 2010
1:31 pm
Bill, this is not about politics. This is about the kids!
Education Insider
October 26th, 2010
1:32 pm
I wonder which group the 16,000 kids that APS “looses” between their freshman and senior year, fall into…graduates…drop-outs…invisibles. Do we believe that APS is the only district who does this? And is that with a standard high school diploma? You can graduate and not get a standard high school diploma in Georgia.
You know what they say. Lie to me once shame on you, lie to me twice, shame on me. We all have a role to play in the epidemic called high school dropouts, as 1.3 million kids leaving school without a high school diploma certainly qualifies it as an epidemic.
HS Public Teacher
October 26th, 2010
1:40 pm
Is this a typical government way to improve stats? Wasn’t this done to unemployment rates a while ago?
Simply don’t count the kids that drop out and (bingo!) graduation rates surge.
Simply don’t count the unemployed that stopped looking for work and (bingo!) the unemployment rates improve.
I wonder if I can apply this to my personal life…. Simply don’t pay the bills coming to me and (bingo!) my net income increases! Hey! It works! I like this stuff!!!
oldtimer
October 26th, 2010
1:46 pm
Though I am not sure I believe the statistics, it is easier these days to track students. I imagine they are improving. This is good.
Fled
October 26th, 2010
1:49 pm
Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies.
chuck
October 26th, 2010
1:51 pm
Lord knows we don’t want to admit that anything good is happening in education. It MUST be a total fabrication.
Alex
October 26th, 2010
2:07 pm
Total bunk! Perdue has no positive education legacy…just the negatives of cuts to education, teacher furloughs, etc. He is trying to claim some things at the last minute…Race to the Top and increased graduation rates on his watch to give the appearance of a legacy. This guy is the worst Governor, ever. What he has done to public education is inexcusable. In fact, Perdue seems determined to show how tough he is with this investigation into cheating on CRCT tests. Seems to me, Perdue is “cheating” with his claims regarding graduation rates. Good news though, this Governor and all his cronies are history in about two months.
AndyW
October 26th, 2010
2:11 pm
Maureen – has GA used the same methodology (leaver rate) over the last 8 years or so.
Dekalbite
October 26th, 2010
2:13 pm
You’re probably right that the graduation rate has risen to a certain degree. But the degree to which it has risen is very inflated:
1. Students get more chances to take tests
2. Teachers are pressured to “give’ students passing grades (at least in DCSS)
3. Students cannot receive zeros if they do not turn in assignments
4. The “cut” scores for the EOCT and GHSGT are changed (try sometime to go on the Georgia DOE and find out about the “cut” scores. I’ve never seen such obfuscation in the wording. They absolutely will not let you see how they’ve arrived at “cut” scores and they change them frequently.
5. Teachers are pressured to inflate grades (e.g. In DCSS you can pass a class and flunk every test but pass if you do all of your homework and classwork. How is a teacher, parent or student really able to assess what has been learned if tests count so little on the final grade?)
Some schools probably do have a real and substantial increase in scores. I have no problem if graduation rates rise due to any and all of the following:
1. After and during school intensive tutoring
2. Students being held to higher standards and putting forth more effort to reach those standards
3. Mentoring and parental involvement programs that focus on supporting students academically
4. Teachers and students putting forth the extra effort it takes to obtain that high school diploma
5. More highly qualified teachers instructing students
Unfortunately, it is hard to separate the real from the inflated. One key is to look at your national standardized testing. Compare the ITBS scores from year to year. This is a nationally normed test and “cut” scores are not set by the Georgia DOE. If you see no increase in skill level (reading, math, social, studies, and science), then how have the skill levels improved for our students. Other national tests to look at are the ACT and SAT. If we are graduating more students, then our SAT and SAT rates should be reflective of this, particularly the ACT scores since the ACT is more of an achievement based test while the SAT is more of an aptitude based test. I know DCSS’s graduation rate has risen significantly while its ACT and SAT rate has gone down and its ITBS rate is stagnant or decreasing.
This is why Georgia doesn’t want a national test. A national test lets you know how your students are doing versus all other US students and “cut” scores cannot be changed.
Maureen Downey
October 26th, 2010
2:14 pm
@AndyW, Yes.
What if
October 26th, 2010
2:24 pm
Cathy, I have no knowledge of the current method used for estimating the graduation rate, but in fairness a big proportion of those 9th graders are there for their second year. Last year, DOE reported 123,454 students in 8th grade and 139,957 in 9th. While it could be huge numbers of kids come from the private schools in 9th grade, I’d wager that a realistic number for first time 9th graders is closer to the 123k number. SO, even comparing current FIRST TIME 9th to 12th will look better than 63%. On the other hand, few of those 2nd-time 9th graders will ever finish school. I’d guess 81% is optimistic.
R. Katz
October 26th, 2010
2:43 pm
One can do anything they want with numbers.
dcss failing
October 26th, 2010
3:05 pm
@lovelyliz
I read the CBS News link you provided. Wow – great article. I’m sure the story here in Georgia is much the same. Wow.
Tweets that mention As we expected, state says grad rate rose to 80.8 percent. Do you buy it? | Get Schooled -- Topsy.com
October 26th, 2010
3:15 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by willedmond, MONISE SEWARD. MONISE SEWARD said: From @AJCGetSchooled 'As we expected, state says grad rate rose to 80.8%. Do you buy it?' http://ow.ly/2ZLG9 [...]
lovelyliz
October 26th, 2010
3:25 pm
And unlike private schools, they can’t kick out students that affect graduation rates and schools.
Aaron
October 26th, 2010
3:30 pm
I don’t believe GA school data after all of the recent “cooked” statistics. I would like to have them audited by an outside, independent organization. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice …..
pay attention folks
October 26th, 2010
3:33 pm
If accurate, this is all great, but we must pay attention to the fact that there will be a complete REVERSAL OF THIS TREND starting with the class of 2012.
We can’t ignore the facts, and wake up 2 years from now and say “huh?”
Fled
October 26th, 2010
3:43 pm
On second thought, Purdue might be a genius. If he can convince the dim people of Georgia that the pathetic excuse for an education the children there get is really a good education, there’s no end to republican rule.
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Dull old boy from Bonaire is watching you!
Keep on electing republican dolts, y’all.
Teacher
October 26th, 2010
3:51 pm
First of all, those of you who disagree with allowig test re-takes are missing the point. Education is about improving student achievement through mastery. Why do so many teachers in Georgia treat education and tests as punitive? That “I’m gonna catch you” attitude has not gotten you very far! Bravo to those who care enough to re-take. Most of the problem students don’t care enough to re-take.
As for graduation rates – they have probably gone up just a little, but Georgia still has SERIOUS problems with its educational system. (see paragraph one above.)Those of you who have not taught out of state have no clue how bad it is in many Georgia classrooms!
Publius
October 26th, 2010
4:03 pm
@Cathy — Good work. Keep the data simple, and explain it later. The state should just report the rate of 9th graders who graduate. DOE can explain transfers, home schoolers, etc. after the computation, but just put the raw calculation out there. How many come in vs. How many walk across the stage.
Teacher
October 26th, 2010
4:21 pm
Sonny should be investigated by the GBI !!!
REMEMBER To VOTE OUT THE REPUBS ON NOVEMBER 2ND!
Actually Positive
October 26th, 2010
4:30 pm
Teacher, instead of giving someone a re-test that affords them to get a higher grade than the student who scored well initially, why not give them a secondary test but leave the grade as is? Make sure the get the info, but the score doesn’t change. Or, give students two scores, a test score and a comprehension score, so we can compare grades fairly. Otherwise, we have no idea who is smart or who got to retake an identical tests with all of the answers.
November
October 26th, 2010
5:10 pm
Not for a nano second……our school system is so screwed up that I doubt the true figure will ever be known and in the APS and DCSS, I am absolutely, positively sure it’ll never be known. Maureen, of course “we’re graduating more students” (your words)……there’s more of ‘em….d’oh. Remember to vote responsibly on November 2nd
Carrollton Retiree
October 26th, 2010
5:16 pm
There is no doubt that this is good news! Most schools have made real progress. Only a few systems (like Atlanta City Schools) may be yielding to the stress of unrealistic goals (no dropouts by 2014) and not counting correctly. Changing to the cohort method will not change that. The move to the cohort system for measuring is not a good thing! Some students need more than four years to complete high school and/or college.There are many factors that may play a part in that (family life, pregnancy,work, drugs). The important thing is that they finish not that they do it in a specified time. Specified times for learning is one of the major flaws of our industrial model schools. The push to measure completion in four years has nothing to do with good teaching/learning, but everything to do with limiting funds for education. Graduation requirements are getting tougher every year and there will be big drop after next year’s graduation test with high level math. Downey, I once thought you knew something about education, but it appears that you become more Republican every day!
catlady
October 26th, 2010
5:18 pm
There are so many ways these numbers can be doctored, both by omission or commission. Moving students to alternative education, encouraging them to go to night school, saying that students have “moved” but not really. In some areas, I can believe 80% might be correct, but overall? NO way!
Atlanta mom
October 26th, 2010
5:48 pm
Exuse me. APS graduated 1,906 students last year. Yes, they had 2,813 seniors, so the graduation rate is not 80% But, let’s not place this problem at the feet of APS. We have enough of our own problems, thank you very much.
Atlanta mom
October 26th, 2010
6:01 pm
Georgia SAT score 2006-1468 National average 1506
Georgia SAT score 2010-1453 National average 1509
rosie
October 26th, 2010
6:04 pm
Hello! This is an ELECTION YEAR. As stated above this inflated rate can be attributed to a number of things. #1 No zeros policies are rampant and teachers are no longer allowed to give zeros. Students have endless opportunities do assignments over and retake tests. #2 The testing we use in the state of Georgia are Georgia tests and manipulated by politicians. Last school year the cut scores for CRCT, EOCT and GHSGT were set really low. One example was a math class where a student could get only 30% of the questions correct and pass. #3 Dumbed down curriculum focused on nothing more than passing the test.
Dekalbite
October 26th, 2010
6:23 pm
This is from the Georgia Department of Education website based on March, 2010 FTE count:
http://app3.doe.k12.ga.us/ows-bin/owa/fte_pack_ethnicsex.entry_form
Georgia
9th graders – 139,957
12th graders – 98,285
70%
Atlanta mom
October 26th, 2010
6:32 pm
In the school year of 06-07 North Hall HS had 306 students take the 9th grade English Exam. In May of 2010 North Hall HS graduated 228 out of 241 students. Yep, sounds like a 95% graduation rate to me.
Time4change
October 26th, 2010
6:53 pm
The article mentions graduation coaches as the
key to Perdue’s success. We longer have them, hmmmmm.
Jennifer
October 26th, 2010
7:15 pm
I am not drinking the Kool Aid.
ScienceTeacher671
October 26th, 2010
8:14 pm
Lake Woebegon….we’re living in Lake Woebegon…..
Bill
October 26th, 2010
8:30 pm
Poor Democrats, can’t stand to see a Republican accomplish something they wish they could do.
Just Wondering
October 26th, 2010
8:55 pm
For those of you who don’t know, states with education systems we need to be more like have used cohort rates for years (North Carolina). It is far more accurate than the leaver rate which is based on how many students start senior year less transfers and pass the GHSGT. I applaud everyone that is doing some homework trying to figure out what it should be. This is what we should be doing with all the number the state reports.
As for the anti re-testers who forget that you can take the SAT, ACT, GMAT, or any other national standardized test as many times as you would like and they take the best score. Also, the state (and APS) has singed on to Common Core Standards so national standards and testing are on its way.
Just wondering, isn’t the state student tracking system (which is well overdue and over budget0 supposed to answer our questions?
Tony
October 26th, 2010
9:38 pm
Much ado about nothing. There will be no completely accurate way to determine graduation rate. Besides, all the methods insist on a four year time-span for students to complete high school. This is an EFFICIENCY rate.
While there remains great concern over the seemingly poor graduation rates of many schools, until we address some of the underlying societal issues that lead to the poor conditions, there is little that schools can do. Poor values and lack of a strong work ethic are at the heart of much of the underperformance of American students. Too many expect a world class education from schools, yet they are completely unwilling to do their part.
No matter what method is used to calculate graduation rates for our schools, it can be corrupted. When too much emphasis is placed on a particular measurement, it becomes subject to distortion. “The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.” -Donald T. Campbell.
Sonny Days Are Over
October 26th, 2010
9:54 pm
Thankfully, Sonny and his cast of clown bankers, advisors and ego-strokers will all be gone in the months ahead. The darkest eight years Georgia has ever seen will be over….the damage to be repaired!
not telling
October 26th, 2010
10:22 pm
Graduate what? 5th grade, maybe.
Seriously, the graduation standards have dropped severely if it rose that much. GA High School = other states’ kindergarden.
Burroughston Broch
October 27th, 2010
2:50 am
It seems that the DOE is using the same flawed mathematical techniques as the Atlanta Public Schools. A pox on both their houses.
JacketFan
October 27th, 2010
6:55 am
Maureen, are you going to post a blog about the release of USG graduation rates and the BOR’s response (per this story: http://www.ajc.com/news/ga-colleges-graduation-rates-694688.html)? I’d like to get your perspective and here what my fellow posters have to say about it.
Vincent Fort
October 27th, 2010
4:28 pm
No, I don’t believe Perdue’s assertions. There is no greater “cooking of books” than graduation rates. Perdue knows that. It is indefensible for him to make a big ballyhoo over what he knows not to be true. At the same time he is investigating the APS’ CRCT issue, there ought to be an investigation of how Perdue cooked the graduation rate numbers. His education legacy will be cutting four billion from Georgia’s schools; initiating vouchers, and increasing class sizes.
CharterStarter
October 29th, 2010
10:48 am
For what it’s worth, and a few days late (so nobody will read it) here’s my take (also posted here:
http://forum.georgiapolicy.org/Groups/Education/blog/2010/10/29/graduation-rates)
Much was made this week about Georgia’s graduation rate, which has now passed 80% and is rising.
While I generally applaud the progress that the Governor and State School Superintendent are promoting – as they should – I have reservations, too.
If we’re going to pat ourselves on the back about having accomplished something important, let’s pick a number that actually means something. Georgia’s graduation rate is a “leaver rate,” explained here, which leavers, um leaves, a lot to be desired.
The Governor’s own student achievement site admits that the leaver rate “is a ‘proxy calculation’ and reflects an estimate (emphasis mine) of the percentage of students who entered ninth grade and graduated four years later.”
I keep hearing that the state is going to a “cohort” graduation rate, which will report precisely how many students (by number and percentage) actually complete all four years of high school by graduating with a real diploma. Those numbers will be much more reliable and worth crowing about. After several years. One thing is certain: when the cohort rate begins being reported, systems all over Georgia will be shocked and awed to learn they are losing (in some cases) as many students as they are graduating, and it will take YEARS of progress to return to the rates we presume to be good news today.
Another issue I have is with the accuracy of the (meaningless) graduation rate celebrated this week. Not so many years ago, I worked in a school system that was justifiably proud of its model schools and performance on Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in No Child Left Behind. As the administrator of a centralized, district-wide program, I had access to the student achievement database for all my students. Since my students came to me from every high school in the system, I similarly had access to the records for all high school students in the district. When I attempted to calculate the impact my program had had since its founding on graduation rates in our system, I was stymied. Why? There was no “field” in the achievement database for “graduated” or “diploma.” Sure that I was missing something, or inadequately trained (despite being an accomplished designer and user of databases for 20+ years), I sought guidance from the “architect” (or, for you non-Matrix fans, the database administrator).
Long story short, though the presumed purpose of K-12 education is to help children complete those grades and move on, our student achievement database tracked everything but the most important thing: i.e., whether or not students actually completed high school, and if so, when and with what credential.
And worse yet, there was no other source that could tell me, either. Astonishing.
So, recalling the “garbage in, garbage out” rule, I don’t have a lot of faith in the numbers districts report to the state. I do have a lot of hope for the new student achievement system, which will have a unique identifier for each student so as to track them over distance and time. However, even this much-improved system will still depend on the goodwill and professionalism of those who enter the data, and given my own experience and recent events in APS, DeKalb and Dougherty (which I assume to be the tip of the iceberg), I fear we have “miles to go.”
Ole Guy
October 29th, 2010
2:59 pm
Back in the Dark Ages, a few teams became known and renouned for going from worst to first in their districts. It was soon learned that many farm boys, not all that concerned with their futures, would simply fail their senior years (yep, they did fail people back then) so that they, as “oldsters” could play ball with the “pee wees”.
Any resemblence to the current state of “achievement”?
sloboffthestreet
October 29th, 2010
5:52 pm
After this was first reported I spoke with DOE and Matt Cardoza. He refered me to the group that tracks student enrollment and explained how they use these numbers. After contacting the group that he refered me to they explained that the numbers given to DOE could not be used to calculate graduation rates. I called Mr. Cardoza back and left the information and my name and number expecting a return call. Funny, I never received one. I wonder why???
Fulton County Observer
October 30th, 2010
6:40 am
During a mid term election year it would seem that someone who is not running for office would love to pat himself on the back as having accomplished such a feat. Keep in mind that the State Super. left GA high in dry in the midst of what could have been one of the most talked about DOE scandals to date.
Remember, the “formula” utilized to track graduation rates is skewed based upon FTE, leavers, etc. So I am in agreement with the majority, I do not and can not accept the “information”, because it truly can not be called “data”.
PS-anyone attending the Fulton County School System “considering becoming a charter system” meetings?
TimothyJR
November 1st, 2010
6:58 pm
It is difficult to believe that graduation rates have increased so dramatically in a period of less than seven years. I would be very skeptical of the data and exactly how these rates were extracted. Teaching students to test and the perverse motivation to move students forward via NCLB are likely to be partial culprits among a host of many other confounding variables. The measures and efforts of the state of GA are likely to be yielding some dividends with regard to graduation rates, but an increase of 20 some odd percent. I doubt it. This is pure political spin.