Ed Week: Hawaii DoE Dropout Rate Jumps to 32.8%
by Andrew Walden
Released today, the Education Week magazine Diplomas Count 2013 graduation figures don’t look good for the Hawaii Department of Education.
Hawaii ranks 44th in the nation for graduation rates with only 67.2% of the students entering 9th grade graduating from the 12th.
From 2000 to 2010, the most recent year for which statistics are available, DoE graduation rates inched up from 62.3% to 67.2%. And the growth is inconsistent, for instance Hawaii lost 2% falling back from the 69.2% calculated for 2009. Hawaii’s 10-year 4.9% increase lags behind the national 10-year average of 7.9% and far behind the genuine stars of the school reform movement; Florida and Tennessee which racked up 10-year gains of 31.5% and 23.0% respectively.
Of the 15,327 9th graders entering the 2009-2010 school year, Education Week projects only 10,196 will be found to have graduated in the 2012-2013 school year when statistics become available. This yields a total loss of 5,132 students or 7.1 students per school day for four years.*
Of course the Hawaii Department of Education has a simple strategy for success—if the numbers are bad, change the numbers. And according to Education Week, the Hawaii DoE is 7th best in the nation when it comes to changing the numbers. The discrepancy between Education Week’s graduation counting method and the DoE’s method is 13%, leaving the DoE with a claimed graduation rate of 80%. Only six states are better at boosting their self-reported graduation numbers than Hawaii.
Full Text: Hawaii Second Chances—Turning Dropouts into Graduates
June 7, 2011: Hawaii graduation rate 65.8%, DoE continues to play numbers games
(*Education Week incorrectly calculates a loss of 29 students per day which equals 5132 students / 180 days. But the loss is over four years and so the actual total is 5132 / 720 = 7.1 students per school day. Of course the actual school year is less than 180 days in Hawaii but good luck getting honest figures on that.)
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