Bogus High School Graduation Rates Are Nationwide.

 





It's common knowledge that the New York City's high school graduation rates are bogus and few students make it through college or obtain high paying jobs that can support a family.  Unfortunately, the bogus graduation rates are not confined to New York City.  It's a nationwide problem.  Take Washington D.C.  public schools for example.

On Oct. 28, 2015, the D.C. Public Schools district put out a statement lauding itself with this headline: “DC Public Schools Continues Momentum as the Fastest Improving Urban School District in the Country.”  That tale is looking a lot less remarkable in the wake of revelations that educators and administrators, feeling pressure from their bosses to boost graduation rates and student performance, allowed many students who did not have the requisite qualifications to graduate. An example is Ballou High School.

 A city study — undertaken after media reports revealed the situation — found that more than 900 of 2,758 students who graduated from a D.C. public school last year either failed to attend enough classes or improperly took makeup classes. At one campus, Anacostia High in Southeast Washington, nearly 70 percent of the 106 graduates received 2017 diplomas despite violating some aspect of city graduation policy.

This was the result of the education reform movement that pressured school administrators to commit academic fraud to show the "miracle"   Reformers refused to admit, at least publicly, that there are no “miracles” in education. Student success takes hard work by young people and their teachers and parents, and it takes work not just around school policy but also with housing and health and fiscal and transportation policy.

In Washington D.C. like all urban school districts, standardized test scores — which are highly correlated to Zip code and family income — did indeed dramatically rise over the past decade. But officials didn’t like to mention that proficiency rates of D.C. students would still be considered failing in a high-performing district or that a wide achievement gap persists between white students and black and Hispanic students. Some in the District also say that test scores rose because the percentage of white students — who traditionally do better on standardized tests — has grown in District schools in recent years.

In Washington D.C. there was a cheating scandal and academic fraud goes hand in hand with education reforms and while scho0ol districts nationwide report higher graduation rates, the "miracle" is just a mirage as these students drop out in college do to their lack of educational ability.

You can read the Washington Post article Here.