Posts published on June 13, 2011

New High Graduation Data Documents Gender and Minoritiy Gap

The 2011 edition of Education Week’s Diplomas Count finds that the national high school graduation rate stands at 71.7 percent for the class of 2008, the most recent data available. This is the highest rate since the 1980s, and an increase after two consecutive years of decline. However, the report also projects 1.2 million students from this year’s high school class will fail to graduate — 6,400 students lost each day of the year, or one student every 27 seconds. While the graduation-rate recovery occurred across all demographic groups, rates for those historically underserved remain a concern. Among Latinos, 58 percent finished high school with a diploma, while 57 percent of African-Americans and 54 percent of Native Americans graduated. On average, 68 percent of male students earned a diploma compared with 75 percent of female students, a gender gap virtually unchanged for years. High school-completion rates for minority males consistently fall near or below 50 percent. Suburban students graduate in considerably higher numbers than urban ones, 76 percent versus 64 percent. Regardless of location, graduation rates in districts characterized by poverty or racial or socioeconomic segregation are well below the national average, typically 58 to 63 percent. The 2011 edition also found a 44 percentage-point gap between the highest-performing states — New Jersey, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin — and the lowest: the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, and South Carolina. Sorce:PEN Newsblast
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/6bfm7tk
Related: http://toped.svefoundation.org/2011/06/08/graduation-rates-trending-up-or-maybe-down/