Cause for Optimism with Increasing High School Grad Rates

A new study finds that graduation rates are increasing in many states, and the number of schools that graduate fewer than 60% are dropping nationwide.

A newly released report reveals good news in the national fight to reduce the numbers of high school dropouts. The results of the study, conducted by the Civics Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center, America’s Promise Alliance and the Alliance for Excellent Education, not only showed significant increases in the rates of high school graduation in 24 states, but also found that the number of schools that graduate less than 60% of its high school classes nationwide had dropped by 457. The report, which analyzed data going back to 2002, also showed that the number of so-called “drop-out factories” shrunk the fastest between 2009 and 2010.

The number of “dropout factories” totaled 1,550 in 2010, down from 1,634 in 2009 and a high of 2,007 in 2002. The number declined by 84 between 2009 and 2010. As a result, 790,000 fewer students attended dropout factories in 2010 than 2002. These numbers and additional analysis are detailed in the 2012 Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, an annual report authored by John Bridgeland and Mary Bruce of Civic Enterprises and Robert Balfanz and Joanna Fox at the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University. The report is sponsored by AT&T with additional support from the Pearson Foundation.

Robert Balfanz, the director of the Johns Hopkins University-based Everyone Graduates Center and the co-author of the report, sounded a cautious note of optimism, noting that while the improvements in graduation rates justified the efforts of the states to improve them, the future increases need to be even more rapid in order to reach the national graduation goals by the 2020 deadline.

While praising states that have shown particularly large gains, like New York and Tennessee, he drew attention to the states that either failed to improve at all or even saw graduation rate declines over the time period covered by the study. According to the report:

… the following states actually saw declines in their graduation rates during this period: Nevada (-15.6), Connecticut (-4.3), New Mexico (-2.6), Arizona (-2.2), California (-1.7), Utah (-1.1), Nebraska (-1.0), Arkansas (-0.8), New Jersey (-0.5) and Rhode Island (-0.4).

Although focusing mostly on information from the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate and Promoting Power report, the study also featured updates on academic achievement metrics making up the 10 Civic Marshall Plan benchmarks such as grade-level literacy, chronic absenteeism, and compulsory school-age requirements.

”In large part the battle will be won or lost in the 13 states that have the largest number of students to get back on track to graduate and need to accelerate their progress two to three-fold in order to reach 90% high school graduation rates by 2020,” said John Bridgeland, CEO of Civic Enterprises and co-author of the Building a Grad Nation report.

The report also features states and school districts that are making significant gains, serving as a challenge that others can too. It also shares promising practices from nonprofits, businesses, media, educational and governmental institutions across the country, and five case studies in: Dothan, AL, the State of Georgia; Henry Grady High School in Atlanta, GA; Houston, TX; and Washington County Public Schools in Maryland.

Comments

Linda Brees

March 20, 2012 at 7:57 am

Good to know all these fights we’re fighting are having in impact. Sometimes, when you’re in the trenches, it’s hard to tell if you’re doing any good at all.

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- Dave
  
  March 27, 2012 at 7:35 pm
  
  It’s time to set the record igrastht, education is ever evolving. School board members change, superintendents change, administrators, teachers and students change, graduation rates change, drop-out rates change, change is the nature of education. There are some people in education that are changed to the point where they don’t care anymore those are the people that need to be done with the education system. I don’t think there are many people that get into the field of education for reasons other than they love what they do, when you have changed to no longer love what you do you need to retire, change careers, or otherwise move on. For every person who has changed for the worse there are ten more recent graduates who are willing, ready, and able to replace them. Trends in education wax and wan, attitude, passion and heart are continuously regenerated with those recent graduates who want to fight the good fight. Our children represent education would we ever give up on or throw in the towel when it comes to our children? I think not. Our education system is flawed, but our education system is run by people which means that people are flawed too. I believe there is strength in numbers if all of us who want to continue to fight the good fight ban together we will change education for the better.
  
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Joe

March 20, 2012 at 8:03 am

Watch out, Linda, you might have to admit that all these recent Conservative education initiatives weren’t just underhanded means to turn teachers into slaves. They might have actually produced positive results!

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Mike

March 20, 2012 at 10:59 am

You mean the initiatives just being passed increased last years graduation rate? Wow, that is good.

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- Joe
  
  March 20, 2012 at 4:07 pm
  
  Obviously that is what I mean. I don’t think the concept of education reform even exist before this year, much less took place. All these comprehensive education overhaul plans I’ve been reading about on this site since at least two years ago must have been a figment of my imagination.
  
  Reply
  - Aremania
    
    March 27, 2012 at 4:26 pm
    
    Revisiting Mathematics Manipulative Materials This article oeitlnus manipulative use in Western Australia. A survey was sent to all elementary and middle school teachers that asked about which manipulatives they have ever used and which are used most often. The article also talks about the need for proper training and professional development for teachers in order to use manipulatives effectively.Swan, P., & Marshall, L. (2009). Revisiting mathematics manipulative materials. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 15(2), 13-19. Teacher Learning and Mathematics Manipulatives: A Collective Case Study About Teacher Use of Manipulatives in Elementary and Middle School Mathematics Lessons This article studied teachers use of manipulatives after a 20 hour training on using them. It was interesting because it not only showed lessons that using manipulatives didn’t help, but it also was able to talk about effective professional development(since each group of teachers had just completed training prior to the lessons).Puchner, L., Taylor, A., O’Donnell, B., & Fick, K. (2008). Teacher learning and mathematics manipulatives: A collective case study about teacher use of manipulatives in elementary and middle school mathematics lessons. School Science and Mathematics, 108(7), 313-325. Origami Instruction in the Middle School Mathematics Classroom: Its Impact on Spatial Visualization and Goemetry Knowledge of Students In this article, a study was conducted to analyze the effectiveness of using Origami with middle school students to help them learn spatial relationships. It was found there was no difference in understanding of spatial relationships between the control group and the group doing Origami.Boakes, N.J. (2009). Origami instruction in the middle school mathematics classroom: Its impact on spatial visualization and geometry knowledge of students. RMLE Online: Research in Middle Level Education, 32(7), 1 12.
    
    Reply
Mike

March 22, 2012 at 12:09 pm

Been in education 15 years in 4 states. Glad you see the changes, I don’t.

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