High School Graduation Rates Rise

Hey! I found this article on the DOE website and I thought the class might find it interesting. If you can, please post your thoughts.
-Mighty


Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein Announce That High School Graduation Rate Rises to All-Time High of 63 Percent, Marking the Eighth Consecutive Year of Gains
03/09/2010


More Students Earning Regents Diplomas than Ever Before

Drop-Out Rate Cut Nearly In Half Since 2005

Hispanic Graduation Rate Above 50 Percent for the First Time

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein today announced that New York City’s four-year high school graduation rate rose to an all-time high of 63 percent in 2009, according to the State Education Department, which released the data today. Between 2008 and 2009, the June graduation rate rose nearly three percentage points, extending its continuous rise since the Mayor won control of the school system in 2002. Including August graduates, as the State and City both now do, the 2009 graduation rate is 62.7 percent. The increase was accompanied by an even larger rise in the proportion of students earning Regents diplomas, which will become the State’s standard diploma in two years. Additionally, students of all ethnicities continued to make progress, with graduation rates increasing for white, Asian, black, and Hispanic students. For the first time, more than half of the City’s Hispanic students—56 percent, including August graduates —graduated in four years. The Mayor and Chancellor were joined for the announcement at Tweed Courthouse by Ernie Logan, President of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA) and Leo Casey, Vice President of Academic High Schools of the United Federation of Teachers of the United Federation of Teachers, as well as principals of high schools from all five boroughs including Evelyn Collins, principal of the Manhattan Theatre Lab High School; Vincent A. Maniscalco, principal of Staten Island Technical High School; Michael Athy principal of Bayside High School in Queens; Charles Osewalt, principal of the Morris Academy of Collaborative Studies High School in the Bronx; and David Cohen, principal of Brooklyn’s Midwood High School.

“After a decade of stagnation, New York City’s graduation rate has increased for eight consecutive years,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “And not only are more students graduating than ever before, but the number of students dropping out has been cut nearly in half in just the past four years alone. We won’t be satisfied until every student graduates from high school, but our City’s principals and teachers deserve enormous credit for the significant progress we’ve made.”

“More than ever, graduating from high school is a prerequisite for success later in life, so it’s encouraging that increasing numbers of our students are reaching this significant milestone,” said Chancellor Klein. “The fact that more are also earning Regents diplomas is an especially promising sign that students are graduating prepared to meet the rigorous challenges in college and in their careers.”

Since 2005, when the State began calculating graduation rates using its current methodology, the City’s June graduation rate has risen by 12.5 points. The dropout rate has been cut nearly in half during the same period, falling to a new low of 11.8 percent—a decline of 10.2 points since 2005. In all, 3,300 additional students in New York City graduated in June 2009 compared to June 2008, with that number rising to almost 6,200 additional students when August graduates are counted.

New York City’s four-year graduation rate of 62.7 percent includes students who graduated in August after completing remaining requirements over the summer. Because the State only began including August graduates in its calculation last year, however, comparisons to previous years exclude August graduates. Exempting these graduates, the City’s four-year graduation rate rose to 59 percent in 2009 from 56.4 percent in 2008 and 46.5 percent in 2005. Moreover, the five-year June graduation rate rose to 66.1 percent in 2009 from 62.6 percent in 2008 and 55.7 percent in 2006. The six-year June graduation rate rose to 65.6 percent in 2009 from 61.8 percent in 2008 and 58.5 percent in 2007.

A larger percentage of graduates than ever before—44.6 percent—earned a Regents or Advanced Regents diploma in June 2009, compared to 40.9 percent in 2008 and 30 percent in 2005—a 14.6 point increase over four years. To earn Regents diplomas, students must meet more stringent graduation requirements, including passing Regents exams. The percentage of students earning less rigorous local diplomas fell to 14.4 percent in June 2009 from 15.5 percent in 2008 and 16.6 percent in 2005—even while the overall graduation rate has increased and the requirements for local diplomas became more rigorous.

Additionally, the percentage of English language learners who graduated in four years rose 3.9 points between June 2008 and June 2009. The graduation rate among these students was 39.7 percent in June 2009, and 44.4 percent including August graduates, up from 35.8 percent in June 2008 and 25.1 percent in June 2007. This increase is particularly significant given that English language learners are often recent immigrants and must master English while working to meet all other graduation requirements simultaneously.

The graduation rate among special education students was 24.7 percent in June 2009, up from 22.5 percent in June 2008 and 17.1 percent in June 2005. Including August graduates, 26.6 percent of special education students graduated in four years.

Students of all ethnic groups continue to achieve higher June graduation rates. For the first time, the percentage of Hispanic students graduating in four years rose above 50 percent, with 51.8 percent of Hispanic students in the class of 2009 graduating in four years, compared to 48.7 percent in 2008 and 37.4 percent in 2005. This 14.4 point increase over four years compares to a 9.9 point increase among white students and a 10.5 point increase among Asian students during the same period. Overall, 53.9 percent of percent of black students in the class of 2009 graduated in four years, compared to 51.4 percent in 2008 and 40.1 percent in 2005, an increase of 13.8 points since 2005. Including August graduates, 55.9 percent and 57.8 percent of Hispanic and black students, respectively, graduated in four years in 2009.

These gains come as the Department of Education strengthens its focus on preparing students for postsecondary work and success. The Department is providing all eleventh-grade students in the City with a free online SAT preparation and college planning tool in advance of the spring and fall 2010 SATs. Also, the DOE has launched a college readiness initiative focused on expanding and strengthening AP course offerings through AP teacher training workshops in up to 40 schools. The program seeks to improve access to courses, raise student scores on AP exams, and increase the supply of AP materials available to teachers and students.

In recent years, the City and State have used a shared methodology to calculate graduation rates. Before the State began calculating graduation rates, the City adopted its own methodology in 1986, which remains the only basis for historical comparisons. Using the City’s old formula, the graduation rate rose from 58 percent to 68 percent between 2005 and 2009, an increase that tracks closely to the State’s calculation. Since 2002, using the City’s old methodology, the graduation rate has increased by 33 percent, or 17.2 points—from 50.8 percent to 68 percent. Before the start of the Bloomberg Administration, the graduation rate had been essentially stagnant for a decade, hovering around 50 percent.

Professor Rangel's Workshop

Thank you Professor Ruben Rangel for coming in and sharing your insights on Paul Freire. I found that the class was very theraputic and that we were all able to connect and learn a little more about each other. I really liked the true word activity because it made me think and evaluate my life. It's strange that the words we chose, although relate to conflict in our lives, also relate closely to the things/people we love. Professor Rangel said that these are the things we should make a priority. I would've loved to have done all the other acrivities he had planned.

i-Best Program

I'd like to thank Amy and Wynne for their presentation last week. I thought it was informative and very engaging. What I liked the most was the "gallery walk" because we were able to read the views of our peers in a non-threatning way. Also, we didn't just sit and discussed the articles we read, we were able to move around. It was very effective for me to know what the other students in my class were thinking about the reading. I will implement this method in my own classroom.
As far as the I-Best program at LaGuardia Community College, I feel that it is providing the adequate help to those who are trying to advance themselves. Amy and Wynne are very dedicated to the work that they are doing, and those are the kinds of people needed to run programs like these. The I-BEST program provides alot of support, more than what the usual GED/Job training programs usually do. It has a higher success rate because it incorporates these two so that their students are preparing themselves in more ways than one. Although I am still a bit skeptical about vocational training because I feel that most of these lead to low paying jobs that they could've acquired even without the training, I guess it is a stepping tool. I would just like to see a program that while it does offer some immediate results, also follows through with its students in the long run, making sure that they get the proper help for some long term success.

Test Scores determining Tenure

Time after time, the DOE never fails to surprise me. Using student's test scores to determine whether teachers should receive tenure is an outrage. This is just another example of America's reliance on test scores as a determining factor of success. It seems that the DOE simply doesn't take into account how diverse New York City students are not only on the basis of nationality but also educational needs. It fails to recognize other types of assessments that would examine more accurately the way students have progressed over a year. A test score cannot account for all the students have done through out the academic year. This is just another case of "blame the teacher" for the failure of the educational system. There is no mention of funding, programs, or individual needs as a part of student success.

I am in complete agreement that test scores cannot be the sole indicator of student achievement. The article suggests that individual portfolios would be a "much better method of evaluation". Portfolios are a good way to show how a student changes over time. However, what happens when students begin to create work for the simple task of putting it in their portfolio? It often lowers the quality of work. If portfolios are going to be used, their needs to be a system of evaluation used to determine the quality of published pieces.

NYT: High Schools to Offer Plan to Graduate 2 Years Early

Looking back at my four years of high school, I can honestly say that I don't think I ever did anything productive. My classes were often interrupted by fights and disruptive and disrespectful students. I choose to go to Bayard Rustin H.S. becuase of a Creative Writing program that they had. Only to find out once I got there that the program lacked resources and was sooned closed. From my experience, I can say that had their been such a test as the one mentioned in Alex's article, I would've taken it without giving it thought! I do think that these would only benefit a small percentage of students and would give them preference over others.

This makes me wonder, isnt this just another way of giving priority to exams? If these were available, wouldnt it be the case that many teachers would be teaching towards the tests? Wouldn't many of the learning and life skills that students need before they go to college be completley disregarded?