Uneven grad rates, but this can change

According to the 6th annual Building a Grad Nation report, the national high school graduation rate between 2011 and 2013 hit a record high of 81.4 percent. For the third year in a row, the nation continues on pace to attain 90 percent on-time graduation by 2020. Yet improvement in states and large districts has varied considerably. Some, including those that are majority low-income and minority, made large strides; others lost ground. Improvements therefore don't reflect broad economic, demographic, or social trends, but a constellation of leadership-driven reforms and multi-sector efforts at state, district, and school levels. With focus and concerted effort, graduation rates can increase everywhere. The report recommends that states and districts eradicate zero-tolerance discipline policies, since expelled or suspended students are far more likely to drop out. States and districts should expand use of early-warning indicators, allowing educators to intervene at the earliest and most critical times. State funding must also be made more equitable, so low-income students enjoy the same opportunities as their affluent peers. A standard diploma must be offered to all students, thereby limiting exit options that prematurely take students with disabilities off-track to graduating on time. Finally, policymakers must increase use of consistent and comparable data to hold states accountable for graduation rates, deploying these data as a tool for determining where challenges exist. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

Published by LEAP

Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.