Texas High School Graduation Rates Improve, but Why?
When it comes to the number of students who graduate from its public high schools, Texas is not accustomed to being called a success.
The last time the Texas Supreme Court ruled on the state’s school finance system, in 2005, it warned of a “severe dropout problem,” calling the lagging graduation rates of blacks and Hispanics in the state “especially troublesome.”
Yet even as the latest round of school finance litigation goes to trial this fall, it appears there is reason for optimism about the number of students leaving high school with a diploma. Many Texas school districts, including ...
Comments (11)
Matt Giani
This is one of the best articles I've read regarding the complexities surrounding measuring and preventing high school dropouts. Great historical overview and present-day analysis of the situation in Texas.
Christine Lund
So, who officially decides what the numbers are and are these numbers checked before and after they ate reported? Who's ultimately responsible for these numbers? Do we self report the numbers?
Sonora Hartley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
A variety of programs, eh? Of course there's no chance parents have anything to do with lower drop out rates? No, I didn't think so.
Alice Taylor
Like the article says, dropout rates are very hard to pin down and while this is a very good trend, it's hard for anyone in education to get very excited over the numbers when the yardstick measuring dropouts is constantly moving.
School districts are trying very hard to reach students who have dropped out and the number of alternative settings and non-traditional classes aimed at At-Risk students has increased quite a bit in the last ten years. That's the good news.
The bad news is that, like the article says, we don't know if that is the sole reason for the improved numbers because we really don't know if kids who aren't in public school are in real alternative educational settings like a charter or a real home school situation, or not.
A point to consider is that a student who leaves school and claims to be home-schooled is not a drop-out. Parents who can't control their kids and keep them in school or who want them to babysit or work and are hauled in front of a judge for truancy learn early on that to avoid fines all they need to do is say they're home-schooling their kid and file that with the school district. Only the kids who simply disappear from the rolls are considered drop outs.
My high school, for instance has a 98% graduation rate. We have almost 700 9th graders and about 500 12th graders. Now where do 200 9th graders disappear to by the time they get to 12th grade? Some simply vanish, but many are legally withdrawn and are being home schooled and we know that because of the papers filed and because they pop up later at our school or some other school when they finally get bored with sitting at home. In Texas there is absolutely no oversight for home schooling and despite all of the rabid home school advocates out there who are sincere in their own efforts, most of the kids who are being home schooled are doing nothing at all and are functional drop outs.
Texas Supe
Alice is exactly right. Homeschool is the great get-out-of-school-free card.
Bill Betzen
The other comments regarding the confusion as to how dropout rates are reported are valid. It is confusing. Since 2005 I have only been counting what they call attrition rates. They are the most valid rates based on solid data and do not rest on any "coding out" of students. They result in lower graduation rate numbers, but they go up and down reliably, usually at the same time the offical TEA graduation rates go up and down. The progress celebrated in this article is well reflected in my data and calculations. Texas has really made progress! See http://schoolarchiveproject.blogspot.com/2012/05/dallas-isd-academic-graduation-rate.html for the progress in Dallas and http://schoolarchiveproject.blogspot.com/2012/07/is-texas-dropout-rate-progress-slowing.html for the progress in Texas.
However, if you read the last paragraph on the first link above you can see indications that Dallas ISD may be seeing evidence of an eventual decline in the graduation rate. The same thing is also happening at a statewide level as is documented in the second link. After over 4 years of wonderful progress, the consequences of the $5.4 billion cut in Texas education is now beginning to be felt. We will have the data needed for the 2012 Cumulative Promotion Index calculations in November, just in time for the 2013 Texas Legislature! They must know that there have been negative consequences to the $5.4 billion they cut from Texas schools. Money does NOT make for success in education, but it certainly helps.
It was very good to see this article finally celebrating the progress in Texas education since 2006. I hope I am wrong about the downturn it appears we are about to start due to the Texas Legislature.
Christine Lund
Sonora,
Many parents have to work hard and long to provide for their family. That's why janitors should be receiving at least a 'living wage'. Indecently low wages are why both parents often must work and still do not have enough to exist on. Childcare is expensive, especially if you work nights. And the advertisers and movies don't make it any easier with their unrealistic stories, inlfuencing our childrens' view of the world.
Poor children just don't have a chance unless they are in the top 5-10%. What about the other 90-95%? The education budget was supposed to be taken care of with the introduction of gambling in many states but they just cut the budget and say, too bad, too sad. It's in the best interest of big money to keep the masses as uneducated as possible. So many kids fall in to the trap. No goals. It all looks so easy until you actually have to do the work. And they no idea what their rights are because classes on government are not started early enough or stressed enough. Don't blame parents who are struggling to barely exist.
Dianna Pharr via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Many of these graduates must take remedial classes when they enroll in college. Further the students who are "pushed out" of public school are not tracked by Texas public schools or the Texas Education Agency.
Dave S
Graduation rate is an AWFUL measure of school success. Paying attention to graduation rate only encourages schools to create ways to "graduate" students who haven't learned anything. How about a study of how many students in a district go through "credit recovery" type assistance in order to graduate, when by any normal measure, they should have failed?
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if you read the last paragraph on the first link above you can see indications that Dallas ISD may be seeing evidence of an eventual decline in the graduation rate. The same thing is also happening at a statewide level as is documented in the second link. After over 4 years of wonderful progress, the consequences of the $5.4 billion cut in www.newralphlaurenoutlet.com Texas education is now beginning to be felt. We will have the data needed for the 2012 Cumulative Promotion Index calculations in November, just in time for the 2013 Texas Legislature! They must know that there have been negative consequences to the $5.4 billion they cut from Texas schools. Money does NOT make for success in education, but it certainly helps.
Lynn Frickey
The bottom line is any student who does not graduate is a travesty as earning a high school diploma is a life-changing event! We can give our at-risk students a voice by tapping into the reasons "why" a student becomes disengaged and provide interventions to support students to reengage or increase engagement to pursue an educational goal.
I have been a teacher for 28 years and I’ve developed the Scale of Student Engagement/Disengagement (SOS ED), which empowers students to self-identify their level of school engagement by responding to items that are scored and converted into an engagement score. In a university research study, the SOS ED was reliable and valid in identifying student engagement levels. Please visit my website and check out the video explaining the SOS ED and how to use it with your students.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1BbJQRyoGY
www.scaleofstudentengagement.com
For further information, please email me at: lfrickey@scaleofstudentengagement.com