The Virginian-Pilot
In November the Board of Education celebrated a remarkable achievement by a struggling, southwest county.
A few years ago, seven of Lee County's 13 schools couldn't meet state standards in reading, math and history. Now, with every school accredited, Lee County was being released from state sanctions - Virginia's first such victory in a decade of education reform.
Amidst the hoopla, few noticed a disturbing footnote. As Lee County's test scores were going up, the graduation rate it reported to the federal government was going down, from 84 percent in 2004 to 76 percent in 2005 to about 70 percent in 2006.
The slippage didn't affect accreditation, because - astonishingly - keeping kids enrolled isn't required by the commonwealth.
That makes a mockery of education reform.
The easiest way for any school or school division to look better on paper is simply to boot all the bad actors out the back door.
No one claims Lee County used such tactics. But any education reform that allows even the possibility fails the children and the communities it purports to save.
The most glaring flaw in Virginia's widely praised education reform is tacit acceptance of the fact that nearly one in four students fails to graduate on time.
The falloff is worse in older communities, including Norfolk and Portsmouth, and among certain demographic groups, including black males.
Commendably, Board of Education President Mark Emblidge launched a long overdue fix earlier this month. "The board has identified dropout rates as one of its top priorities," he said, promising to make a solid graduation rate a requirement for school accreditation. The process should take about two years.
Regrettably, the board passed on an opportunity to start holding schools accountable sooner, however. Charged with adopting a target graduation rate under the federal No Child Left Behind law, members picked an embarrassing - or tragic - 61 percent, 7th lowest in the nation.
The rationale had more to do with federal-state politics and unreliable data than policy. The number, Emblidge pledged, is "no indication at all of how seriously we feel graduation rates are, or how aggressively we intend to go after this issue."
True to that promise, the Board of Education must spare no effect to speed the adoption of meaningful standards. The eventual cutoff number needs to be tough, reflecting at least the 80 percent graduation goal embraced by the Council on Virginia's Future.
And the Department of Education needs to make sure that local school divisions accurately report dropouts. Currently, annual dropout rates claimed by most Virginia school systems don't square up to the percentage of ninth-graders who are absent when their class lines up for a diploma.
Lest anyone doubt the problem, JustChildren - a Charlottesville-based advocacy group - recently looked at 14 Virginia school divisions ranked "distinguished" for success in improving the test scores of poor children. Graduation rates fell in half those districts between 2004 and 2006, according to federal reports.
Until such hemorrhaging stops, the aura of success that blankets Virginia's education reform is a cruel illusion, a feel-good bromide that ignores the bleak reality facing tens of thousands of children.
This is part of our special focus on the next challenges for the school accountability movement in Virginia.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
I agree!
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink is very aptly applied to education. The responsibility for education first off is the parents involvement not the governments. Second is the childs willing/wanting to learn. This is where we need parental intervention for we can tune our kids to want to learn instead roam the streets by being parents with rules! Yes, 70% graduating is a lot better than 100% failing to understand the basics at graduation time. We have dumbed down our society for so long to meet the "quotas" handed down by the government that we now are raising and graduating 8th grade educated children! Our country has been diluted in the academics department by trying to get all children to pass a test that some have no desire to pass which drags down the ones that want to learn but can't because they too then become bored for now they are being held back from thier potential and they also give up . It's a vicious cycle that needs to be stopped!
A Catch 22
If we make graduation rates the main priority, I predict test scores will again fall. You see, with struggle schools there's big problem with maintaining classroom discipline. This is so partly because some students have absolutely no desire to learn and see the school day as an opportunity to act out. Under "A No Child Booted Out" policy, schools would be under pressure to socially promote these kids in order to make graduation rate quotas. As a result, the "bad actors" would become permanent fixtures in the classroom negatively impacting the learning experience for all. For it only takes one "bad actor" in a classroom to totally disrupt the learning of that whole class. Ultimately for our public schools to succeed, they must focus on quality not quantity. So if that means a 70% are getting a better education, then that's better than 100% getting a poor one!