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Graduation Rates Lag in State, CMS: Results Vary With Formulas, but Dropouts Remain a Problem

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Ann Doss Helms, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Jun. 21--Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' roller-coaster reputation took a dip Tuesday with a new national report comparing graduation rates around the country.

CMS's 56 percent graduation rate falls below state and national averages and far below Wake County's 82 percent, according to a research project paid for by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and published by Education Week magazine.

South Carolina fared worse with just less than 53 percent; no S.C. districts were big enough to be reported among the nation's 50 largest. South Carolina is one of only four states that requires 24 credits to graduate. North Carolina requires 20, although many districts require more. CMS, for instance, requires 28 credits.

Keeping kids in school builds healthy communities. Graduates earn more than dropouts and are less likely to end up out of work, in jail or on public aid, the report notes.

But calculations of success rates vary wildly. North Carolina, for instance, tells the federal government that virtually all kids graduate on time, using a formula that has been ridiculed across the country as misleading. The state will try a new approach this year.

Meanwhile, a separate annual N.C. dropout report shows CMS outperforming Wake County last year.

To get consistent numbers for all U.S. districts, the weekly education journal used U.S. Department of Education data from 2002 and 2003, the most recent available.

Using 2005 and 2006 data for CMS indicates that about two-thirds of students are graduating now; no current comparisons are available.

The Education Week approach, which looks at how many kids disappear as each class advances to the next grade, put CMS in the middle of the nation's 50 largest districts, with Detroit at the bottom (22 percent) and Fairfax County, Va., at the top (83 percent).

Ann Clark, the CMS regional superintendent in charge of high schools, hadn't analyzed the Education Week data Tuesday, but acknowledged that CMS faces a challenge with dropouts.

In CMS and in most of the country, ninth grade is when the most students leave. CMS is creating alternative settings, small "schools within a school" and catch-up classes to try to keep freshmen on track, Clark said.

"To me, our challenge is in the ninth grade and our solution opportunity is in the ninth grade," she said.

Education Week's calculations give Wake County the second-highest graduation rate among the 50 big districts, just below Fairfax. Donna Hargens, a Wake assistant superintendent, said that rings true.

"(Our) number doesn't surprise us at all," she said Tuesday. "I guess I'm surprised by other (graduation) rates."

While the magazine did not analyze individual districts, it listed factors linked to low rates: Boys and minorities were less likely to finish high school than girls and white students. Urban schools where poor and minority students make up most of the student body fared worst of all.

That describes a large segment of CMS. Only six of the district's 17 high schools were majority white and had poverty levels below 25 percent in 2005-06.

Last summer, John Modest left Wake County Schools to become principal at West Charlotte High, CMS's highest-poverty and lowest-performing high school. He said poverty and student assignment are the two biggest differences between the two districts, and CMS is at a disadvantage on both.

Last year 48 percent of CMS students qualified for lunch subsidies, vs. 27 percent in Wake. Wake assigns students to avoid poverty levels over 40 percent at any school, a goal that's becoming harder to meet as poverty rises there.

In CMS, nine high schools topped 40 percent poverty last year, and four were over 60 percent. At West Charlotte, three-quarters of students qualified for aid.

"It really comes into play more than folks want to admit," said Modest.

Calculating graduation rates is only one of the challenges of sizing up school districts.

CMS has earned top national ratings for its scores on elementary and middle school reading and math exams and for having large numbers of high school students taking college-level classes.

But last year's scores on state high school exams were so low that a judge and the governor have threatened to close or restructure some schools in the state if this year's results aren't better. CMS plans to release preliminary 2006 results Friday.

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GRADUATION DETAILS

Education Week plans to have graduation rates for all districts available online later this week: www.edweek.org/dc06

Graduation Rates

Here's how Education Week calculates four-year graduation rates in the nation, the Carolinas and two N.C. districts that are among the nation's 50 largest.

-- Wake County: 82 percent

-- U.S.: 70 percent

-- N.C.: 66 percent

-- CMS: 56 percent

-- S.C.: 53 percent

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

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