District revises grad rate
Guilford spent the past few weeks tracking hundreds of students to verify who transferred and who dropped out. As a result, the district on Monday revised its 2006 graduation rate to 74 percent, up from the original 63.5 percent that the state reported earlier this month.
Districts had to prove students had transferred by tracking down the proper documents. The state helped by sharing information on where students may have gone after leaving Guilford and Dare County Schools, the other district that disputed its graduation rate.
Districts will be graded by how well they improve this graduation rate, which tracks "cohorts" of students from when they enter as freshmen to graduation within the next four years. It is considered a far better measure than the on-time rate North Carolina has been using. That rate just looked at a graduating senior class to see how many finished in four years, so it did not reflect the large numbers of students who drop out as freshmen or sophomores.
The cohort rate better reflects dropouts, but is not perfect. It doesn't account for students who go on to get their GED or students with disabilities who leave school with a certificate instead of a diploma.
But a state rate of 68 percent is much more reflective of what's actually happening than something in the 90 percent range, which was just ludicrous, as many national studies pointed out over the years.
Comments (4)
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Now, it would be most instructive if the district would share with us information on accumulated basis where those students went. If there is a substanial number that went to surrounding districts, it would be a commentary on the district. What about those students that left the district and went to private schools or home schools? Are they accounted for here?
Posted on March 21, 2007 8:50 AM
Stormy,
Board members also had questions about how the rate was calculated. Here's what Dr. Grier sent to them:
"The formula has numerous components. It is a true "cohort" method that tracks students over a four year period.
The denominator for 2005-06 includes:
The 20th day enrollment of 9th graders in 2002-03.
Plus any student moved into the district or a school within the past four years through the 2005-06 school year.
Minus any student who has moved out of the district or school, with PROPER documentation, during that same time frame (not including dropouts).
Students dropping out hurt the denominator because the denominator does not decrease when they dropout of school.
The Numerator for 2005-06 includes:
Students who began with this 9th grade cohort and graduated early - some students graduate within three years, etc.
Plus all members of this cohort group who graduate from school on time?within four years of entering 9th grade in 2002-03."
Private schools are definitely included, according to DPI.
They don't mention home schools. But parents have to notify the state if they are enrolling their child in a homeschool so I would think that the former school would get that information at some point as well.
Posted on March 21, 2007 10:45 AM
Jennifer,
Please be aware that there is a problem trying to comment on the first 2 entries on this blog.
Posted on March 21, 2007 11:22 AM
Numbers,
Thanks for letting us know. We've been having trouble since we updated the blogs. Our tech guys are working on it. We hope to get it worked out soon.
If anyone wants to comment in this strand for now (just identify which one you're really replying to) I can see if I can move the comments over to the appropriate posts later.
Sorry about the hassle. Thanks everyone for being patient.
Posted on March 21, 2007 3:09 PM