Report Urges Focus On Graduation-Rate Gaps

A recent report has highlighted the low high school graduation rates for minority students in the nation. The report suggests that this issue is often overlooked due to weak state oversight, loopholes in federal education laws, and flawed measurement methods. The reports, titled "Losing Our Future: How Minority Youth are Being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis" and "Who Graduates? Who Doesn’t?" are available from Results for America.

According to the study, only around half of African-American, Hispanic, and Native American youths successfully earn a high school diploma within four years, while at least three-quarters of their white and Asian-American peers graduate on time. This data is based on enrollment data from 2001, and the national average graduation rate is estimated to be 68%.

The study also reveals significant graduation-rate gaps between minority and white students, with differences of at least 22 percentage points nationwide. In some states, such as New York, these gaps can be as high as 43 percentage points. During a press conference to release the study, Christopher Edley Jr., co-director of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, criticized the education authorities for overlooking districts with extremely low graduation rates for minority students.

The research responsible for these findings was conducted by the Civil Rights Project and the Urban Institute, in collaboration with the Civil Society Institute’s Results for America Project and Advocates for Children of New York. The graduation rates were calculated by analyzing the differences in student enrollment over time and the likelihood of students receiving a regular diploma. Christopher B. Swanson, a research associate with the Urban Institute, also released a separate study highlighting the challenges in determining accurate graduation rates.

This report adds to the growing body of evidence criticizing the inaccurate and inconsistent measures used to gauge graduation rates. Researchers argue that these flawed measures often result in inflated percentages of high school completion.

Overall, it is clear that the nation’s high school graduation rate for minority students is subpar. Further attention and improvements are needed to address this issue and ensure equal opportunities for all students.

According to an email statement from David Thomas, a representative of the U.S. Department of Education, students are safeguarded from being excluded from school as the law requires schools to improve student performance while maintaining graduation rates at or above state targets. Thomas also mentioned that increasing the complexity of the adequate yearly progress provision is not the solution for enhancing graduation rates among minority students.

Joseph F. Johnson, who works as the special assistant to Ohio’s schools superintendent, expressed concern about the considerable number of students who are not completing their education, regardless of how the data is calculated. In response to the achievement gap in Ohio, a state taskforce conducted a thorough assessment and proposed the establishment of a separate group dedicated to investigating the challenges faced by the state’s high schools. This panel has already commenced its work.