Our American Minority Boys
“It’s hard to believe such a pervasive problem has remained in the shadows for so long.”
First lady Laura Bush and national education leaders yesterday unveiled an online database that promises to provide parents across much of the nation the first accurate appraisal of how many students graduate from high school on time in each school system. There’s only one problem with it…. those numbers aren’t right. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said the data show that half of the nation’s dropouts come from a small group of largely urban “dropout factories,” high schools “where graduation is a 50-50 shot or worse.” She scolded state and local education officials for masking the problem by publishing inflated graduation rates based on bad math.
Most states, including Virginia, Maryland and the District, continue to report graduation rates by a method that, while accepted by the federal government, has been rejected by much of the academic community and was roundly criticized yesterday by federal officials. They estimate the graduation rate based on the number of students known to have dropped out. The problem is, few public high schools track every student who drops out. “In some states,” Spellings said, “a student is counted as a dropout only if he registers as a dropout. That’s unlikely.” Dropout rates are particularly high among black and Hispanic students, especially males. Prince George’s County schools reported a 90% graduation rate for 2003. The new database shows a graduation rate of 67% for that system. More than half of the dropouts, it shows, never make it to the 10th grade. Schools will have to meet federal targets for black and Hispanic students and other statistical subgroups, as well, a requirement likely to stir considerable anxiety in low-performing school systems.
