The Declining American High School Graduation Rate

James Heckman and Paul LaFontaine on growing educational inequality:

The declining American high school graduation rate: Evidence, sources, and consequences, by James J. Heckman and Paul A. LaFontaine, Vox EU: Official statistics for US high school graduation rates mask a growing educational divide. This column presents research showing that a record number of Americans are going to university – while an increasing number are dropping out of high school. This poses major social challenges for the United States.

The high school graduation rate is a barometer of the health of American society and the skill level of its future workforce. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, each new cohort of Americans was more likely to graduate high school than the preceding one. This upward trend in secondary education increased worker productivity and fueled American economic growth (Goldin and Katz 2003).

During the past 25 years, growing wage differentials between high school graduates and dropouts increased the economic incentives to graduate high school. The real wages of high school dropouts have declined since the early 1970s while those of more skilled workers have risen sharply.[1] Heckman, Lochner, and Todd (2008) show that in recent decades, the internal rate of return to graduating high school compared to dropping out has increased dramatically and is now over 50 percent. Therefore, it is surprising and disturbing that, at a time when the premium for skills has increased and the return to graduating high school has risen, the high school dropout rate in America is increasing. America is becoming a polarised society. Proportionately more American youth are going to college and graduating than ever before. At the same time, proportionately more are failing to complete high school. ...

A number of recent studies have questioned the validity of the official statistics and attempt to develop more accurate estimators of high school graduation rates.[2] Heated debates about the levels and trends in the true high school graduation rate have appeared in the popular press.[3] Depending on the data sources, definitions, and methods used, the U.S. graduation rate has been estimated to be anywhere from 66 to 88 percent in recent years—an astonishingly wide range for such a basic statistic. The range of estimated minority rates is even greater—from 50 to 85 percent.

In Heckman and LaFontaine (2007), we demonstrate why such different conclusions are reached in previous studies. We use cleaner data, better methods and a wide variety of data sources to estimate U.S. graduation rates. When comparable measures are used on comparable samples, a consensus can be reached across all data sources. After adjusting for multiple sources of bias and differences in sample construction, we establish that (1) the U.S. high school graduation rate peaked at around 80 percent in the late 1960s and then declined by 4-5 percentage points; (2) the actual high school graduation rate is substantially lower than the 88 percent official estimate; (3) about 65 percent of blacks and Hispanics leave school with a high school diploma and minority graduation rates are still substantially below the rates for non-Hispanic whites. Contrary to claims based on the official statistics, we find no evidence of convergence in minority-majority graduation rates over the past 35 years. (4) Exclusion of incarcerated populations from the official statistics greatly biases the reported high school graduation rate for blacks.

These trends are for persons born in the United States and exclude immigrants. The recent growth in unskilled migration to the U.S. further increases the proportion of unskilled Americans in the workforce apart from the growth due to a rising high school dropout rate. ... 

The decline in high school graduation is greater for males than it is for females. Men now graduate from high school at significantly lower rates than women. For recent birth cohorts, the gap in college attendance between males and females is roughly 10%. However, the gap in college attendance given high school graduation is only 5%. Half of the growing gender gap in college going ... can be explained by declining rates of high school graduation.

Especially striking are the comparisons in graduation rates between minorities and whites. Our estimated black graduation rate is 15 percentage ... lower than the official completion rate. ... The official statistics show that white and minority high school completion rates have converged since the early 1970s. However, the official estimates exclude those who are in prison. We show that when we count GED recipients as dropouts (incarcerated or not), there is little convergence in high school graduation rates between whites and minorities over the past 35 years. A significant portion of the racial convergence reported in the official statistics is due to black males obtaining GED credentials in prison. Research by Tyler and Kling (2007) and Tyler and Lofstrom (2008) shows that, when released, prison GEDs earn at the same rate as non-prison GEDs, and the GED does not reduce recidivism.

In the first half of the 20th century, growth in high school graduation was the driving force behind increased college enrolments. The decline in high school graduation since 1970 (for cohorts born after 1950) has flattened college attendance and completion rates as well as growth in the skill level of the U.S. workforce. To increase the skill levels of its future workforce, America needs to confront a large and growing dropout problem.

The origins of this dropout problem have yet to be fully investigated. Evidence suggests a powerful role of the family in shaping educational and adult outcomes. A growing proportion of American children are being raised in disadvantaged families. This trend promises to reduce productivity and promote inequality in the America of tomorrow.

Comments

[hari]

This is closely linked with the last three decades of growing income inequality and inability of the bottom third of the working class to mitigate or overcome their comparative disadvantage in life.

OECD countries in Europe have overcome this by technical and training programme of the unemployed class by officially reforming the way employers deal with training of unqualified labour inforce - before they're unemployed.

Something serious is required in America to avoid the inevitable class conflicts which will follow, if these social contradictions are left to market forces to sort out. The market by itself is not equipped for such policy problems.

It's the role of gov to ensure equal opportunity and train its work force; education is after all the main instrument in society to ensure people are not left behind indefintely.

[Jay]

I think its pretty obvious. It is in the federal government's best interest to keep people stupid (so the politicians and all their lobbyist friends can run away with all the booty). No better way for the federal government to keep people stupid than to create the blatantly unconstitutional Department of Education, so that federal officials can blackmail state's that attempt to give their students quality educations, centered around critical thinking skills, teaching them to be financially competent(among many necessary skills not taught in U.S. public schools). Instead we get mandated standardized tests that teach children to memorize facts for the short-term.

[ken melvin]

Redundants. If they were needed, just as if the ghetto black youth were needed, they be getting an education and a job. They, these dropouts, have been replaced by Chinese peasants and illegals workers here and they know it.

[Peter Schaeffer]

Based on the article above, can we all agree that the alleged "unskilled labor shortage" is BS and importing more is absurd? Can we agree that deeply cynical avarice is he sole reason we keep hearing this nonsense and that any so called liberal who repeats it is morally bankrupt?

[The Baron]

I'll mildly agree with Jay. In relation to America's public education system, I've quoted for years, "It is not in the shepherd's best interest to breed more intelligent sheep."

[Noni Mausa]

Jay said:I think its pretty obvious. It is in the federal government's best interest to keep people stupid (so the politicians and all their lobbyist friends can run away with all the booty)...

I agree, with one proviso: that you assume the goal of the gov't is to milk the people, rather than to enrich and protect the nation. A kleptocracy, rather than a democracy.

BTW, I believe that the aggregate and/or effective wealth of a kleptocracy is always less, usually far less, than the effective wealth of a responsible gov't. The more intense the klepto part of the kleptocracy, the less effective wealth the nation will have.

O educated ones, is there research on this? There must be.

Noni

[paine]

bravo
drop outs
this and busting the wedlock up
are the prolecats taking their lives
into their own hands
libs go goo goo some where else

wanna help
set up free universal voluntary
pre school age 6 months to 5

[paine]

"This upward trend in secondary education increased worker productivity and fueled American economic growth (Goldin and Katz 2003). "

horse shit circular causation

[Finance Monk]

I wonder how much an increase in the disparity of property appreciation over the past 10-15 years has contributed to this. Most school systems are local and funded predominantly by property taxes.

Most of these arguments about 'the government' trying to 'milk the people' are just silly. Yes there's an argument to be made of an incentive existing for a less educated voting bloc, but there are no elected positions that are eligible long enough to benefit from it, and quite frankly I don't see policy makers and local politicians implementing decisions based on that idea.

[paine]

"America is increasing. America is becoming a polarised society. Proportionately more American youth are going to college and graduating than ever before. At the same time, proportionately more are failing to complete high school. "

horse shit

college is remedial high school
the average college degree
for a job class backgrounded
raw thing
is very little more then
a hollow spence signal
it tells employers this poke
is likely to be
easy
disciplined
compliant
tolerent of minny and mickey rules
and ready
for
the lowest paying
white collar corporate gauntlet

at 15
raws oughta be ready for the job world
and needing
a forty hour per week mcjob
or paying public service gigs
in day care centers forest pruning
street policing
or for all it matters
if it works well with testosterone levels
a hitch at camp gwot
what they don't need
are 3 more years
of 30 hours per week
class room detention

jobs teach skills not schools ...period

[paine]

jay hawk

"federal officials can blackmail state's that attempt to give their students quality educations, centered around critical thinking skills, teaching them to be financially competent(among many necessary skills not taught in U.S. public schools"
" can blackmail states... "
but don't have to

voucher the whole biz
and remove the school draft at age 14
that oughta shake
the pointy headed hillarycrats
of middle ed

[chris]

Well how much do the kids learn in school anyway? I have the impression they don't learn much, so whether they stay or drop out doesn't really make that much difference, does it? If they stay, at least they are off the streets during that time, and they get a cheap or free lunch, I suppose. But learn? Very doubtful.

[Patricia Shannon]

Chris is right. The ignorance of young people is mind-boggling. A few months ago, a young lady recruiter was asking where I would like to live. I mentioned I would like somewhere less polluted than where we live, the Atlanta metro area. And she asked me in surprise "Does Atlanta have a problem with air pollution?

The day before Georgia's primary on super Tuesday, when some of us made mention of being late on Tuesday because we would be voting before work, some of the young people, college graduates, asked what what being voted on, and asked what a primary is!

Recently, there was a newspaper article about a class in a local high school that has an economics class, where students are randomly assigned incomes, and have to figure out how much it costs to live, eg., housing and food. This sounds great. That's a course all students need. The problem is, it's an AP course for college-bound students.

Many people have no conception that if they want a service, (like free software, or garbage pickup twice a week), somebody else has to spend their time and effort to provide it, and it has to be paid for. I spent a lot of time when I was in school trying to remember what king fought what other king in what year, long enough to pass history tests. After the tests, I promptly forgot what little I had "learned", and have had absolutely no reason that remembering those things would have been useful to me.

[Tom]

They believe graduation rates result in higher skill levels, and increase productivity. This is true only if students are learning. Now, thanks to NCLB, we are reducing standards, which will eventually increase the graduation rates. Reducing standards improve grad rates, but it does nothing to improve skill levels. Worse, a high-school diploma, when standards are reduced, losses its value as a signaling device. It’s better to tighten standards and have a lower graduation rate than to lower standards and pass everyone. Everyone is left behind when the graduation rate becomes more important than learning.

[Finance Monk]

Eh, it's all relative to location as well Patricia.

I went to a public school here in Maryland (admittedly a well funded county).

We did a 'estimate the minimum cost of living for a family of 4' in my 11th grade, on-level Sociology class. We also studied civics in 10th grade government and actively discussed local issues that were facing us (even a debate on vouchers).

Granted schools don't teach much vocationally for jobs, but honestly most jobs out there don't require that much knowledge anyway (I'm looking at you, admin, call centers, sales, accounts payable & payroll). Being organized, fairly well-adjusted and the ability to write a borderline decent email is about all you need. The requirements for highschool/college diplomas are a low cost way to weed out the people that weren't able to complete those tasks in the job pool.

says...

I have to disagree with Finance Monk. While many elected officials are not in one particular office for many years (though this would depend on applicable term limits- see Strom Thurmond's time in office as evidence) this does not mean they don't benefit from milking the system. Guiding contracts to certain companies and then taking positions or "consulting" jobs with those companies after leaving office is beyond common- it is expected. The general move toward privatization of the military and education, not to mention social security and various other social services that government traditionally provides, multiplies the opportunities to take advantage of connections.

Also, I would mildly agree with one aspect of some commenters here who are asking about the usefulness of what kids these days are learning. No, memorizing why King X fought King B in 1450 by itself is all that useful. Really what needs to be learned is the critical thought process (and going back to the comment on not wanting to breed more intelligent sheep- I couldn’t agree more). History, culture, art and language (all those “pointless” liberal arts courses) are vital to well-rounded education- but in the sense that ammunition is vital for a gun. Just being handed a handful of facts (bullets) isn’t going to help you out much. You need the ability to apply them to daily life, to see patterns over time, to seek to understand the course of human events- you need the critical thought process (the gun). Critical thought + general knowledge together are deadly to those who seek to shore up established hierarchies and unequal power distribution. The slave who does not know he is a slave will not seek emancipation.

Another issue is that it is widely assumed that life would be good for everyone if we just went to college and got a degree. The economy would do well, everyone would be happy. If everyone had the opportunity to attend college for free and all colleges were high-quality (Ivy league level) you’d have an extremely restless and disenchanted population on your hands (not to mention a paucity of jobs requiring the brain power of a college graduate). Look at the job requirements for upper level executive assistants in major metro areas like LA, San Fran & NYC- how many of them require a 4 year degree now? LOTS. Do you really need a 4 year degree to do the work? No way. Requiring a college degree for many jobs today is just another way to lock out certain people from certain rungs of the employment ladder. At the same time that HS graduation rates are declining we are seeing “degree inflation”- jobs that 20, even 10 years ago that did not require a degree are increasingly requiring one; further reducing the number of employment options available to those who DO graduate HS, but do not continue on to college.

I have a long list of ideas (that I will spare everyone) on how to address the issue of equal opportunity in education, but we have to remember that equal opportunity is not the same as equal outcome. I think that with the larger number of college graduates leaving school today expecting to reap the same rewards for the 4 years of hard work as their predecessors, there are going to be some very disappointed people (with lots of student loans) in the work force. I think this is going to pose an interesting problem for employers and social scientists in the near future.

[Nazrafel]

Ok, NOW I agree with Finance Monk (latest comment). My disagreement is with the earlier comment that gov has no incentive/opportunity to squeeze the public.

[kthomas]

"voucher the whole biz
and remove the school draft at age 14
that oughta shake
the pointy headed hillarycrats
of middle ed"

...talk about horse shyt. paine, calm down.

[Betsy L. Angert]

Dear Mark . . .

I thank you for this discussion. As I read the treatise, I marvel. The researchers discuss the depth of the assessment offered; and they avow to the limits of the studies.

The Graduate Education Development Exams alone offer a plethora of problems for diagnosticians. Exit Exams are enigmas. Some schools, Districts, Regions vary the regulations for completion. Calculations are altered to present a polished presumption. Socio-economic concerns enter into the mix known as the dropout dilemma. Stress, instruction as it relates to high-stake tests and No Child Left Behind cannot be ignored. Family dynamics play a huge role in what occurs in the classroom. Each aspect of life must be considered when we evaluate the rate and reason for dropouts.

When authors James Heckman and Paul LaFontaine state, The origins of this dropout problem have yet to be fully investigated, I believe they express a desire to simplify what cannot be statistically understood.

Dropping out of school is related to a variety of factors that can be classified in four areas or domains: individual, family, school, and community factors . . .

There is no single risk factor that can be used to accurately predict who is at risk of dropping out.

The accuracy of dropout predictions increases when combinations of multiple risk factors are considered.

Dropouts are not a homogeneous group. Many subgroups of students can be identified based on when risk factors emerge, the combinations of risk factors experienced, and how the factors influence them.

Students who drop out often cite factors across multiple domains and there are complex interactions among risk factors.

Dropping out of school is often the result of a long process of disengagement that may begin before a child enters school.

Dropping out is often described as a process, not an event, with factors building and compounding over time.

I concur with the statement, The high school graduation rate is a barometer of the health of American society and the skill level of its future workforce. As a whole, I think our nation is very ill. I can only hope awareness, thoughtful discussions, and informed actions will save our children and our country. As an educator, at times I fear policy and practices have created a terminally ill culture.

I offer a few further thoughts through treatises . . .
Dropout Nation; Communities Can Cure The Silent Student Epidemic
Exit Exams, High School Dropouts; Cause and Effect
Less Homework Plus Yoga Equals Greater Stress?
Education Defined . . . Policy Or Pupils Passionately Pursuing Personal Growth?

Betsy L. Angert
BeThink.org

[paine]

talk about horse shyt. paine, calm down

always calm mr t

just provoking your bastion
to sally forth
to meet me
on the plains of abraham

[paine]

monk
absolutely agreed till this cliff like juncture

"The requirements for highschool/college diplomas are a low cost way to weed out the people that weren't able to complete those tasks in the job pool"

low cost ???

to who
the employer for sure
as spence points out
in the ur paper on signals
but society as a whole ???

might we not find a cheaper
more productive way
as you suggest
".. most jobs out there
don't require that much knowledge anyway "

lets just find out who's a good employee
thru job performance itself
started the earlier the better

why a gauntlet without intrinsic value
when the buggars can learn by doing
what the real world will pay them to do

"want better bub
get a skill "

[anne]

Oh dear; the essay is really creepy, Chicago economics sort of market first, market second, market last creepy. Other than that, I loved it though. Let's go beat up some poor kids just for the learnin'.

[Alan]

"Heckman, Lochner, and Todd (2008) show that in recent decades, the internal rate of return to graduating high school compared to dropping out has increased dramatically and is now over 50 percent."

But is this comparing all high school graduates, including those who go on to college, with non-graduates, or just high school only grads vs. non-grads? If the former, then it may be that some students can't afford college and that a high school diploma by itself doesn't add very much.

[Peter Schaeffer]

There is one very important additional point. A very high proportion of the high school “graduates” have a diploma in name only. In real life they are tragically undereducated and seriously challenged in the job market.

An examination of the NAEP data over at THE NATION’S REPORT CARD shows that 26%.8 of our 12th graders are “below basic” in reading and 35% are “below basic” in math. The science data… You don’t want to know.

The NAEP national data also shows that Hispanic seniors (the kids that didn’t drop out), score 57% below basic in Math, 39% below basic in Reading, and 70% below basic in Science. Black seniors do no better.

At least 50% of our high school leavers don’t have anything approaching a real high school education (even if they have a “diploma”). The minority percentages are much worse. The notion we need to import unskilled labor from foreign countries is absurd. We have far more than enough of it right here at home… And we need to provide these kids with jobs that pay well. They need lives, not welfare.

[piglet]

"horse shit circular causation"

I think you got that wrong, paine. It's bullshit, not horse shit.

[piglet]

"I spent a lot of time when I was in school trying to remember what king fought what other king in what year, long enough to pass history tests. After the tests, I promptly forgot what little I had "learned", and have had absolutely no reason that remembering those things would have been useful to me."

From what I have heard, it's even worse. Apparently, everything now revolves around standardized tests that have no other purpose than to rank kids somehow, irrespective of whether the "skills" tested (antonyms and the like) have any relevance at all. Of course, the "somehow" needs a modifier: it helps to have money for test prep.

[James Killus]

Anyone who refers to any labor done in this country as "unskilled" has never done any "unskilled" labor. Every job I encounter in my day-to-day existence requires some capabilities and talents, and I'll assert that we do indeed have a shortage of diligent, polite, energetic and capable workers in this country--at all levels, not just those stipulated as "unskilled."

At the top executive positions, I'm close to the point of just settling for "not criminal." What we mostly must settle for is "never indicted."

[GED]

I dropped out of HS because I was bored. GED test was a joke. I went to college to see if I could learn anything there. It was a joke so I dropped out to get a real job.

I earn over 130k per year as an IT Director. HS would not have made a difference.

As I've climbed the corporate ladder, I have found more and more people in my situation. And in case you're wondering, my HS is one of the top 20 in the nation. Our public school system is a joke.

Helicopter mom's that argue over every grade their children receive doesn't help. Teachers aren't able to give students the grades they deserve. It's illegal to fail students in many districts.

Let's scrap the whole system and start over.

[sherifffruitfly]

And 1-epsilon % of those who do graduate from high school are complete idiots anyway. Make that 1-2epsilon for those who graduate from college.

The problem is much more than just the dropouts.

[Patricia Shannon]

A factor that makes things worse is the segregation by economic class, enforced by zoning laws. We learn how to live largely by our neighbors example. I read about a study where women on welfare were provided with housing in middle class neighborhoods. Living in an environment where almost everybody else had jobs, eventually these women got jobs. The social environment is even more important to children. And I'm sure other people will point out the effects of parents and available funding in different socio-economic neighborhoods.

[anne]

There are any number of superb American schools at all levels, and any number students who are being superbly educated. The problems I find are distinctly those of schooling for children from low income families confined to low income neighborhood schools where there is need for special attention that can be difficult to come by because of continual resource limits.

The older the student, the more providing opportunity should encourage the student to persevere. We need to have attention to a broader range of opportunities for high school students and the promise of dramatic tuition reductions at public colleges and universities for graduates.

As for not graduating high school and becoming President of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, I am not the least impressed. Overwhelmingly students need to graduate high school and continue beyond, and have access to fine educational opportunities.

[Betsy L. Angert]

Dear GED and James Killus . . .

As an educator, I have do quarrel with your assessments. What is labeled as unskilled labor requires critical thinking, craftsmanship, creativity, and care if the job is to be done well.

My Dad returned to complete High School in his thirties. A brilliant man left school in his teens for reasons having nothing to do with a difficulty in learning.

A close companion was also affected by personal experiences. When this wise friend was younger, he knew if he stayed in school peer pressure would be his demise.

One of the most brilliant men I know is extremely well read; he is a researcher and owns a business. This individual is the sole laborer in his company. The work he does is beyond excellent. He did not obtain his "credentials" in an educational institution.

Another individual who is part of my life makes millions. When he was younger, his parents' decided to hire a personal tutor for him. The "teacher" and his wife were scholars. The man I am close to did not receive a traditional education. He learned his lessons from the mentors he loved, life, and the influence of profoundly intelligent persons who taught through experience.

Long and dull lectures, monotonous exercises that are not presented in a meaningful manner do not serve the students well. School does not have to be as it is. Currently, policy wonks wield more power over pedagogy than professional educators do.

No Child Left Behind only exasperated a problem that has long existed in the schools. As you each express . . .
Students, Schools, Society; When We Pass, We Fail the Whole
http://bethink.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=581

Betsy L. Angert
BeThink.org

says...

so why not bring race into this discussion?

[cm]

paine: "college is remedial high school ..."

Some good points you make there.

In related news, may I add Google is seeking a Massage Operations Coordinator, and a bachelor degree (any major apparently) is "preferred".

[cm]

James Killus: But in fairness, in most cases and for most things you can only observe proxies (at a glance), not the real thing. So, "never indicted" is as good a proxy for "not criminal" as "college degree plus" is for "capable". That's unfortunate but seeing through anything requires time (and attention).

[Attila Smith]

@Jay
" It is in the federal government's best interest to keep people stupid "
The more I read your post, the more I think you are right.

[anne]

What is also interesting is that James Heckman and Paul LaFontaine find no reason to bother to cite a single, just a single, education specialist in the article. Sort of like writing on the botany of orchids with no reference to a botanist, but there is such a determined practice among the Chicago economic folks who know more about anything and everything than practicing specialists.

[anne]

Race or ethnicity are critical to emphasize, along with parental and neighborhood incomes, since we have been grtadually finding a re-seregation of American public schools and the Supreme Court has just decisively set back the movement to integration in affirming that separate and equal is fine as it supposedly was before Brown v Board of Eduation with barely a murmur of opposition.

[ken melvin]

That race is a factor in the dropout rate in CA is unquestionable. There is the question of whether best to deal with this reality by denying it is so; or is even a factor.

[Peter Schaeffer]

Anne,

The paper has 15 references including material from

The NBER
University of Chicago Press
The Russell Sage Foundation
Journal of Economic Perspectives
Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan Institute with Black Alliance for Educational Options
Journal of Human Capital
Education Policy Analysis Archives
Urban Institute Education Policy Center
Review of Research in Labour Economics

[anne]

Not to worry, though, stay in school and you too can grow up be even more productive than the average beaver. Duh.

The paper is of course devoid of references to or consideration of the thinking of academic specialists who are vastly more knowledgeable.

When I notice a reference to "Manhattan Institute" on education and especially on race or ethnicity I immediately think slanted and false false false.

[Stick]

Peter:

None of the resources you've listed are a peer reviewed education journal.

Try again...

[Patricia Shannon]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/uoo-pib021308.php
Parental intervention boosts education of kids at high risk of failure
University of Oregon neuroscientists are using basic research findings to address real world problems

BOSTON -- An eight-week-long intervention program aimed at parents from low socioeconomic backgrounds reaped significant educational benefits in their preschool-aged children, a University of Oregon research fellow reported today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
...
At the end of the intervention effort, participating parents reported dramatic reductions in family stress, including reduced behavioral problems, compared to parents in the control group. The UO researchers also documented, through testing and brain-wave scans, improvements in the children's language-acquisition skills, memory and cognitive abilities.

The experimental group included 14 children between 3 and 5 years old and their parents. The children underwent brain scans before and after the research period. The parents attended weekly 2.5-hour sessions in which they were coached on improved communication skills and strategies to use with their children to help control their behavior. At the end of testing, they were compared with results from a control group of 14 children who were tested and had brain scans at the beginning and end of the study period, but whose parents did not receive an intervention protocol.

Several other intervention strategies, including the use of music and attention training with small groups of children, were part of the project, but only data from the parental intervention were shared during a AAAS session on "Poverty and Brain Development: Correlations, Mechanisms, and Societal Implications" scheduled for 1:45 p.m.-4:45 p.m. EST.

[Patricia Shannon]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/ru-agr021308.php

As graduation rates go down, school ratings go up
New study shows the negative implications of No Child Left Behind

A new study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas-Austin finds that Texas' public school accountability system, the model for the national No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), directly contributes to lower graduation rates. Each year Texas public high schools lose at least 135,000 youth prior to graduation -- a disproportionate number of whom are African-American, Latino and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students.

By analyzing data from more than 271,000 students, the study found that 60 percent of African-American students, 75 percent of Latino students and 80 percent of ESL students did not graduate within five years. The researchers found an overall graduation rate of only 33 percent.

"High-stakes, test-based accountability doesn't lead to school improvement or equitable educational possibilities," said Linda McSpadden McNeil, director of the Center for Education at Rice University. "It leads to avoidable losses of students. Inherently the system creates a dilemma for principals: comply or educate. Unfortunately we found that compliance means losing students."
...
The study shows a strong relationship between the increasing number of dropouts and school's rising accountability ratings, finding that:

* Losses of low-achieving students help raise school ratings under the accountability system.

* The accountability system allows principals to hold back students who are deemed at risk of reducing the school's scores; many students retained this way end up dropping out.

* The test scores grouped by race single out the low-achieving students in these subgroups as potential liabilities to the school ratings, increasing incentives for school administrators to allow those students to quietly exit the system.

* The accountability system's zero tolerance rules for attendance and behavior, which put youth into the court system for minor offenses and absences, alienate students and increase the likelihood they will drop out.

The discrepancy between the official dropout rates, in the 2 to 3 percent range, and the actual rates can be attributed to the state's method of counting, which does not include students who drop out of school for reasons such as pregnancy or incarceration or declare intent to take the GED sometime in the future.

[Real Person from the Real World]

I have worked as a teacher, and I have some observations:

Kids in HS today, face a background environment (mainly TV) that focuses heavily on sex. This occurs right at the time when hormones are starting changes. Certainly separating girls and guys would allow for fewer distractions. I have seen a pair sitting next to each other holding hands under the desk. Doubtful that their minds were on the material being taught.

Our teaching establishment is focused on "creativity", self-esteem, and fad ideas. When schools have to find a way to raise test scores, they end up using class time teaching to the tests. Teachers use "portfolios" to grade students, but actual grades very greatly.

PC issues also intrude. Parents of autistic children insist on keeping their kids in classes where these kids must be dealt with by a teacher's aide and hauled out of class, periodically to work with a special ed teacher.

There are more distractions today then in the past: computers. Also, more outside activities.

Maybe we do need to get back to basics?

[Real Person from the Real World]

One more thing -- College COSTS TOO MUCH. We need FREE higher education available to all.