Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Obamas At Smith Center For G.W. Basketball Game
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Saturday Thanks Don't End At Thanksgiving Photo: November 28, 2009
A new study out today by Education Week researchers has found that the on-time graduation rate for D.C. public school students fell to an appalling 48.8 percent in 2006, a drop of more than eight percentage points from the previous year. In other words, in 2006, more D.C. students had dropped out of high school than graduated.
The study looks at national graduation data from 1996-2006, the most recent years available, and calculates the percentage of students who graduate from high school within four years of entering 9th grade. It does not include data from public charter schools. The national high school graduation rate is 69.2 percent, which is itself pretty terrible. State by state comparisons can be viewed here.
The Post reports that DCPS has, "declined to comment on the study's graduation numbers, saying that it was D.C. school policy not to discuss performance data from the period before Chancellor Michelle Rhee took office in 2007." That's a remarkably unhelpful response -- and unnecessarily so, considering we immediately thought of two points they could have made in their own defense. First, graduation rates tell us little about what students are actually learning or how prepared they are for work or college. This is particularly true in districts like D.C., which has long suffered from a culture of social promotion. Secondly, this data is three years old, and much has happened in DCPS since it was collected. In particular, one would hope that improved social services for working students and student parents and increased academic interventions will have some impact in supporting more D.C. students through 12th grade.
UPDATE: Jennifer Calloway from the Office of the Chancellor just emailed us some updated information: "This year 14 out of 17 high schools increased their graduation rates, and cumulatively the graduation rate increased from 67.9% to 69.72%. The 1+% percentage increase equated to nearly 200 more students graduating in 2008 than in 2007." Additionally, Calloway points out that DCPS recently created the Office of Youth Engagement, which houses alternative learning programs and supports students who are chronically truant or who are otherwise at risk of dropping out.
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one would hope that improved social services for working students and student parents and increased academic interventions will have some impact in supporting more D.C. students through 12th grade.
Or you could just give the kids multiple-choice exams with the answers already filled in. Isn't that where we're headed anyway? WTF else do you expect to happen when kids get automatically bumped to the next grade even though they're functionally illiterate? God forbid you actually make them repeat a year of school to actually learn something besides the increasingly simple art of seduction. That would just ruin their precious self-esteem and we wouldn't want a city full of unique and precious snowflakes with low self-esteem.
Sounds like an excellent pitch for Rotica's Academy for Wayward Teens. I'll give you some seed money.
Between the Lil' Monkeyrotica Urban Achievers, Helping Hands for Retarded Monkeys, and the Pleskowcz Academy for Fallen Women, my hands and pants are already full.
"the on-time graduation rate for D.C. public school students fell to an appalling 48.8 percent in 2006"
"In other words, in 2006, more D.C. students dropped out of high school than graduated."
Actually, no, the two sentences don't necessarily mean the same thing at all.
That's a good point, thanks Ricky. It would be more accurate to say that of the students who entered 9th grade in 2002, more had dropped out by 1996 than ended up graduating. However, even considering the number of students that repeat courses and grades, it's not uncommon for DCPS high schools to lose more than half of their entering 9th grade classes before students hit 10th grade.
"It would be more accurate to say that of the students who entered 9th grade in 2002, more had dropped out by 1996 than ended up graduating."
Still not right. Since this statistic is only about on-time graduations, all you can say is that of people who entered DCPS in 2002, 46% graduated in 2006. We don't know how many graduated in 2007, 2008, or who may be on a 12 year program.
Also, it's hardly surprising that the rate went way down at the same time the charter schools came online. You would expect that on average, a lot more students of parents who give a crap about their kids than not, would have gotten them out of the awful learning and safety environment of DCPS and into a charter school. The on-time graduation rate at charter schools is almost certainly much higher.
Can someone tell me why it's not a law to keep kids in school until they're 18? Granted, they still might not graduate, but it's a start.
It's not like a person has any real rights until they turn 18 anyway, so what's stopping a law such as this? Or is there some precedent/court case that ruled it out a while ago?
These are stats from 2006.
demonfafa: you're describing daycare for near adults--not an education. Plus if they don't want to be in school, forcing them will only compound trouble for those attending voluntarily. Teachers aren't equipped to handle people who don't want to be there. My suggestion is to round them up and teach them a trade or begin community service if they're not employed within a specific time frame. Hopefully, these kids won't be parents anytime soon.
Or this stat could be entirely misleading in that there is a trend toward homeschooling in the district:)
Kermit,
From what I know of DC schools, no one wants to be there, even the people who want to learn - mainly because they usually DON'T learn.
But I don't care if it's teenager daycare - it's better than having a bunch of uneducated juvenile criminals spending their mornings hucking rocks at bike riders on 13th.
The age limits on getting edjumacated go back to our agrarian roots, when people needed kids to work the farms. Today people in DC need the little ones to come home to help them tend their urban beehives and chicken coops.
I'd be curious to know more about why they don't graduate... in Wisconsin we had a problem with high rates of teenage pregnancy and so many girls would drop out once they got knocked up. We fixed that problem by starting up the "Preggers School for the Knocked-Up" in which the young mothers attended specialized classes (with their newborn) which focused on voactional education to help them find work to support the child. This seemed to be highly successful and most of those girls graduated. The WI school systems also have a mandatory graduation age which I believe was 20 or 21; thus forcing the system to reach out to those who were struggling. Perhaps DCPS should ponder these ideas... among many others...
It does not include data from public charter schools.
Is this not an important factor? Are more and more focused, well parented students moving to charters and leaving higher percentages of likely drop-outs at DC public high schools? Not a loaded question - just curious.
Good thing you don't need a High School diploma to sling hamburgers. Or to sell drugs or shoot a gun.
Oh but at least we are number one in Cocaine use.
See; Peter Nickles moves into the District and the statistics for drug use go up and for education they go down. That man is a bad influence.
Don't forget the suspicious market fires and requisite coverrup and smear campaign.
Yes, and that too.
Rhee-Rhee, you're doing a heck of a job!
In addition to Monkey's new curriculum, these kids also need the positive reinforcement that only Liz can provide...
I LOVE YOU (unilaterally), MONKEYROTICA! (yelling intended)
@wizzyliz: if you weren't one of the dropouts, you would have been smart enough not to attribute 2006 trends to someone (Rhee) who was appointed in 2007. you're a poster child for school reform.
nevertheless...
@kev29: the charter school factor is too big to be overlooked, so i bet you're on to something.
@demonfafa: to answer your question, some kids graduate younger than 18, so to keep them after they've graduated would mean forcing them to go to UDC. Not that UDC is a bad place, but what if the kid wants to go to Georgetown?
@ricky_d: could you be a little more specific? in my mind, if 48.8 percent of those who went in came out on time, then 51.2 did not, for one reason or another...just asking because i don't know it all.
@myself: why am i doing this?
Not graduating on time doesn't mean they dropped out. DCPS could have a 5-year graduation rate of 100% for all we know (although I am fairly sure it doesn't). Also, high school is 4 years long and only seniors graduate. So the fact that the graduation rate was 48.8% in 2006 doesn't mean that the other 51.2% scheduled to graduate in 2006 dropped out in 2006. They could have dropped out 1-3 years before. I suspect graduation is a trailing indicator of school success. More than anything, I'm just criticizing bad writing.
So is on-time graduation rate a metric that DCPS keeps? What about the kids wo graduate in 4.5, 5, or 6 years? Or is it that it's embarrassingly low like UDC's so they don't even bother collecting that data?
One of the guys on my block says he is planning to go back to Cardozo in fall as a sixth year senior. He can graduate in December if he takes summer classes. I have zero confidence he will ever graduate. Nothing you can do with that guy. I think he still goes because DCPS high schools have like a 30/70 male/female ratio. Hello, fatherhood.
As an extremely proud summer school graduate of the Prince George's County School system I will offer my rare and unrivaled model prospectus entitled, "Everything I Needed to Know I Learned Skipping School at Fort Washington Park".
Agreed. As an ashamed Bowie High alum, I can honestly say: Never buy weed in Benning Heights or the Simple City Crew will jack your dumb ass. You're not saving any money doing your "shopping" in Ward 8. Buy local!
(psst... Albert Einstein might not have graduated from high-school)
Yeah, but was he throwing bricks at people while possibly not graduating high school?
I'm not sure, but if you were looking out the window of a Green Line train travelling at a high rate of speed the brick would appear to be stationary. Relatively, that is.
Einstien wasn't a bratty little thuglet trying to one-up all his buddies by robbing a blind man or assaulting a complete stranger in the park for kicks.
There are people in the world who can be intelligent, productive, and successful without completing 'formalized' education--but in this case, DC kids are not likely to be those types of people! And where do all those drop-outs go? They don't leave DC, they stay right here and collect unemployment or take up space in a jail cell--so I'm not comforted by your comment about Einstien not graduating...
they stay right here and collect unemployment
You have no clue how unemployment benefits work, do you?
Most Einstein scholars point out that he actually had high marks while in school- the claim that he was a poor student is actually a myth. They believe the myth stems from the fact his school system inverted marks halfway through.
Like someone said it would be interesting to throw charter school stats in the mix and do some comparisons.
Einstein was a little punk thuglet who beat up my great grandfather for his lunch money. If only E had a diploma this never would have happen.
Wow I guess I am priviledged to have gotten my high school education in Wisconsin, where the rate is over 80% :-)
This is pathetic, and any attempt by DCPS to explain this away by statistical error or misrepresentation is equally pathetic.
The problem lies with the school system, the parents, and the students themselves. Rather then focus on teaching lessons, instructors are too busy protecting themselves from harassment and violence from the children, who in turn are more concerned with getting in the right gang and who is sleeping with who...meanwhile, the parents (if there are any 'parents') are sitting at home obliviously making the behavior problem worse by leaving the kids unsupervised to run amuck starting fights in Metro stations and shopping centers!
Nothing makes my day brigther than having to push through an unruly mob of DCPS brats...
i'm sure there's some obvious direct correlation to the lead in the drinking water.
Easy fix. DC City Council passes an ordinance: one day's unexcused absence means one Saturday of supervised community service for both parent and child.
Once the parent/guardian has some skin in the game, I'm guessing they might start caring where little Johnny/Jane spends their days.