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Hard work by all pays off in improved graduation rate
Sep 12, 2008 12:14 PM
Either way you count it, the city’s four-year graduation rate rose two points last year, to 62 percent from 60 percent (the city’s way) or to 52 percent from 50 percent (the state’s way) for the Class of 2007 — the highest on-time graduation rate in at least two decades.
The dropout rate also declined, to a record low of 14 percent by the city’s count and 15 percent by the state’s. More students in the 2007 graduating class — those who started high school in 2003 — graduated with Regents diplomas (37 percent, up from 34 percent), and black and Hispanic students narrowed the graduation gap with their white and Asian peers.
The city’s increases also outstripped gains statewide, though the rest of the state’s graduation rate remains higher.
“Today is a day to congratulate teachers, principals, students and parents for all their hard work in keeping the graduation rate going in the right direction,” said UFT President Randi Weingarten, standing with Mayor Bloomberg to announce the results on Aug. 11. But, she continued, “Tomorrow we must ask ourselves what more can we do to get our kids ready for college, to enter the work force, to improve their life skills.”
The gains did raise some questions about how the historic rate was achieved. More students are using “credit recovery” — a shortcut for making up missed coursework. “Credit recovery used to be a trickle but now it’s a deluge,” said UFT Vice President for Academic High Schools Leo Casey, “and that could have inflated the graduation rate a bit.”
Nevertheless, Casey said, “Teachers in high schools are working super hard to get kids graduated.”
The good news was also tempered by the results for two key subgroups: English Language Learners (ELLs) and students with disabilities. While the ELL four-year graduation rate rose three points last year, to 24 percent, that is still below the rate in 2005. Most of the 24 percent earned local diplomas. Just 11 percent of ELLs graduated with Regents diplomas. And even after six years, only 41 percent of ELLs complete high school.
The ELL graduation rates are “absolutely deplorable,” Chung-Wha Hong of the New York Immigration Coalition told the Gotham Gazette. "With less than a quarter of ELLs graduating after four years, it is clear that Chancellor Joel Klein and the DOE must work much, much harder if they are serious about ending the ELL drop-out crisis.”
Students with disabilities, not counting those in District 75 schools, had a four-year graduation rate of 20 percent, a half-point improvement from the Class of 2006 but still far below the statewide average of 39 percent. Under the Klein administration, special education has been a particularly weak spot.
Because the city’s traditional method for counting graduates has been widely criticized, this year the DOE agreed to adopt the state’s counting method. The new system excludes GED diplomas, which the city used to count in its graduation rates, while including most students with disabilities, which the city used to leave out.
Meanwhile, the state agreed to include students who graduate in August as well as June of the fourth year, something the city always did. Capturing those students boosted the city graduation rate by more than three points this year, to nearly 56 percent.
In addition, statewide, and especially in New York City, graduation rates increased significantly for students after five years and again after six years [see chart below].
After the state report came out, the city released its own report using its traditional counting method, which allows apples-to-apples comparisons back to 1986.
