Friday, September 5, 2008

LCPS Evaluation By Testing Part 3: Graduation Rates

Author:
Within the past two years, the issue of graduation rates as a metric for evaluating school districts has become a prominent issue. It's a matter of some dispute as to how to calculate graduation rates accurately as a matter of fact. Loudoun County boasts a grad rate of 93%, but it's tough to know what that means without context.

I found a tool that helps to put the whole thing in perspective, EdWeek.org's Graduation Rates Map. Have a look, and see that there are four states in the US that have graduation rates from 50-60%. Three of them (AL, MS, GA) are in the southeast. That's tough for me to visualize. That's what anti-tax fervor will do for you. Other things I see:
  • No state in the sunbelt rises above 70%.
  • Not a single state has a graduation rate above 90%.
Zoom into Virginia and it color-codes every of the 134 school districts. By my count:
  • Eight (including Loudoun and Clarke) are above 90%
  • Five are below 50%
One final note, according to this map Loudoun County is the only district in the Washington metro region with a graduation rate over 90%.

Update: I poked around the site a little more and found the following statistical report specifically about Loudoun schools graduation rates, which has more details on the methodology for the calculations. The best part is on page 3, where it shows the 10-year trends. In that time Loudoun has increased from 85.5% graduation rate to 92.9%. In that time the Virginia average held steady and the national average improved from 66.4% to 70.6%.
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8 comments:

  1. So you have successfully justified your job is done and no improvements can be made I suppose!

    What is your position on the ~190-acre Lambert property RIGHT across Braddock Road from South Riding as a better, closer, cheaper alternative to Lenah?

    Seems to demonstrate pretty clearly how incredibly incompetent LCPS Planning is at finding sites and how adept you are at spending our tax dollars!
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  2. Mr. Stevens,

    Please elaborate on your statement "That's what anti-tax fervor will do for you."

    I went to the link and did not see anything that shows a relationship, causal or otherwise, between levels of taxation and graduation rates. On what to you base your conclusion?

    This seems to be a flippant and revealing comment on your part. I take it to mean that you think higher taxes and more money are the solution to all education problems. At least you are staking out your position on this year's budget early.

    Additionally, I don't understand why you think graduation rates have only become a prominent issue in the last two years. (At the very least it was prominent in the debate over NCLB.) I recall graduation rates long being the primary metric used to highlight the most aggrieves failures of government education in this country. I would think someone on the school board would be more attuned to this issue than you seem to indicate.
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  3. I believe that many posts in my blog, particularly those with the "budget" tag are an elaboration on the relationship between funding and quality of education. You're right, it was a flippant statement. I reserve the right to do that on occasion.
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  4. Am I correct that the edweek.org map of these figures do not yet use the Governor's agreed upon definition of grad rate? In other words, the map of grad rates is not a standard measure from state to state...

    I understood that this will be released for the first time this year - measuring all states equally.
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  5. According to this brief introduction, the map estimates the percent of students in the 9th grade who will complete high school on time with a regular diploma. It claims to be comparable, reliable data...using data from a single federal data set.
    It appears to me that the data is a few years behind (2005) and may not use the governors' formula, but is calculated the same way across all areas and not subject to variances in the way that states have historically calculated graduation rates.
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  6. Okay--that's great for the county as a whole, but I'd like to see a school by school breakdown.
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  7. Mr Stevens made this comment: particularly those (comments)with the "budget" tag are an elaboration on the relationship between funding and quality of education.

    I have to comment about the fact that this site is named "Our Loudoun Schools" and all I've read this evening is budgets, money, land, building, etc.

    I'm very disappointed about the lack of conversation regarding the level of education our kids are receiving. My peace of mind comes with the fact that my 2nd of 2 children is in their senior yr at LCHS. I don't have to fight with a deaf board and administration about the lack of education the kids are receiving.

    It has nothing to do with money. My issue has to do with the blatant disregard for teaching our kids in order to spend entire class periods pushing agendas. Fear of retribution prevents the students from participating in opposing debates so the only view that is presented is those of narrow-minded, tenured “educators”. And I use that term loosely. Even as a parent, I am prevented from voicing my concern for fear of obvious reprisal against the student.

    Where is our voice? Where or how can we tell these teachers to teach, DON’T preach.
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  8. Are you claiming there is a direct, positive correlation between funding, tax rates, and educational outcomes? If that is true, please tell the parents in DC that their kids education is so much better than they seem to think it is.

    Funding is important, but the evidence shows repeatedely that there are more important drivers of outcomes. This is true all over the world, and in private or government schools.

    Just like reduced class size, more funding is the lazy approach to tackling the real problems with education today. Don't get me wrong, class size and funding play important roles, just not quite the outsized roles some would have us believe.

    As for being flippant, it's your blog and your credibility so feel free. But many of us will keep pointing out your logical fallacies to help ensure they don't become part of the way Loudoun does business.
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