81% of Va. Students Got Diplomas on Time This Year
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Thursday, October 9, 2008
About 81 percent of Virginia students who entered public high school four years ago earned diplomas with the Class of 2008, state officials said yesterday. It is the first time the state has tracked each student's progress instead of relying on an estimate.
But many minority students and many from poor families did not graduate alongside their classmates. About 70 percent of Hispanic students and those from low-income homes who started ninth grade in fall 2004 graduated this spring. The on-time graduation rate among black students was about 73 percent.
Several Northern Virginia school systems beat the statewide rate. In Fairfax County, 91 percent of 2004 freshmen graduated. The rates were about 83 percent in Prince William County, nearly 93 percent in Loudoun County and nearly 98 percent in Falls Church.
Patricia I. Wright, state superintendent of public instruction, said that the graduation rate was slightly higher than the 80 percent estimate for the Class of 2007 but that the data show a need to increase efforts to ensure that minority and economically disadvantaged students complete their course requirements and walk across the stage after four years of high school.
"We are better off than what we thought we were, but we are not as good as what we want to be," Wright said.
Concern about dropouts has prompted a movement among politicians and education advocates across the country to seek, even mandate, a more precise accounting of the share of high school students who graduate in four years. Although a diploma is among the most tangible measures of student success, states calculate graduation rates in different ways. The lack of a uniform definition has prompted criticism that the dropout problem is understated.
Virginia is the first local jurisdiction to track the progress of individual students, each of whom is assigned an identifying number, over the traditional four-year high school term. The state allows extra time for students with disabilities and those learning English to get a diploma.
LOCAL GRADUATION RATES
For the first time, Virginia schools are reporting precise on-time graduation rates. The statewide rate for the Class of 2008 was developed by tracking the progress of students who started as freshmen in 2004 and calculating the share who graduated this spring with diplomas. Here are the graduation rates for local school systems:
Alexandria: 76.2
Arlington County: 81.9
Falls Church: 97.6
Fairfax County: 91.2
Loudoun County: 92.6
Manassas: 74.5
Manassas Park: 85.1
Prince William County: 82.8
For more information, see the Virginia Department of Education's Web site.
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Maryland, which estimates that 85 percent of students graduate in four years, is moving toward a similar method of tracking each student and expects to begin releasing a more precise graduation rate in 2011. District public schools estimate a 70 percent graduation rate.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is using her regulatory power through the federal No Child Left Behind law to require that all states use the same formula for graduation rates by 2013. The rule is expected to become final this year.
Virginia officials said that not all students who fail to get diplomas in four years are dropouts. They said thousands who started ninth grade in 2004 remain in school and are working toward graduation. Others have gotten GEDs or certificates of completion.
In Alexandria, where more than half of students come from families poor enough to qualify for school lunch subsidies, about 76 percent of 2004 freshmen earned diplomas this spring. Superintendent Morton Sherman, who took over the city schools in August, said educators will craft a specific learning plan for each student to boost achievement. The schools also are adding more rigorous programs.
"As I look at these numbers as a new superintendent, we could be and we should be doing better," Sherman said.
The statewide data show a gap between male and female students. More than 84 percent of girls earned diplomas in four years, compared with 78 percent of boys.
Former West Virginia governor Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, a group seeking to improve high schools, said that if shipping companies can track packages, schools should be able to trace the progress of students. He said having students graduate with a strong academic background is the ultimate test of state and federal reforms.
"Graduation from high school is the jumping-off point for college and the workplace," Wise said. "If we can't document how a child finished, let alone if a child finished, we have real problems."
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81% your bragging about 81% where the hell are my tax dollars. Give the public back 19% of last years budget!
Posted by Funnyguyva (anonymous) on October 9, 2008 at 11:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Guess what, funny?
Did you know that 29 of the 30 Open Space interim additions to Ag districts up for Board approval this month aren't large enough to subdivide under any option present in the Revised General Plan and Zoning Ordinance?
That is 96.6% of something purely local, as opposed to 81% of something statewide.
Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on October 9, 2008 at 9:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Loudoun had a 92.6% on time grade rate.
Loudoun had a 1.8% dropout rate.
So the rest need more time than 4 years to complete. I think those stats are awesome.
Posted by sunnydog71 (anonymous) on October 9, 2008 at 10:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks barbara for the info. You are the stats queen. I still want my money back!
Posted by Funnyguyva (anonymous) on October 10, 2008 at 8:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks funny for the coronation.
I'd like the money deferred on "open space" put to better use.
We are required to provide schools by law.
We are not required by law to give tax deferrals for "open space" (yet), but we are enabled in doing so by state laws that say local tax deferral can be granted on items that are in conformance with our (also state-enabled) general plan.
Our plan "promotes open space".
However, our plan and zoning ordinance also clearly state that, for any of the three development options in both zoning categories of the rural policy area, one needs a minimum of 20 acres in AR-1 and 40 acres in AR-2 to subdivide at all.
Why are we giving "open space" tax deferrals to any parcel under 20 in AR-1, or 40 in AR-2?
They are already ZONED as "open space"! They don't need an additional perk for "providing" what is already mandated under the plan and ZO!
Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on October 10, 2008 at 11:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Silly me. I thought this was an article about our fine schools?
.
Barbara Munsey jumped the shark a loooong time ago.
.
I wonder if she is considering a move out of Virginia, far far away from the eeeeeeeevil PEC (like her good buddy Steve Snow)?
Posted by AFF3 (anonymous) on October 10, 2008 at 2:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
aff3, it's funny that you never address what I say, just attack. Who said anything about PEC?
Don't know if you've been following the BoS the last few weeks, but they are giving strong indication that everything is on the table in closing the budget gap; not only did they deny tax exempt status to a church, but to the Middleburg Sporting Library as well. That is pretty even-handed.
Thay may be going to start taxing hybrids more than a penny, as well as tax private aircraft at a more realistic rate.
Since funnyguy is so focused on the relationship between schools and his money, I'm offering that we stop giving tax deferrals for land that gives nothing up to provide open space, because it's zoned that way.
Schools we have to provide, and as noted, statewide has a pretty good average in graduation, and Loudoun has a better one.
Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on October 10, 2008 at 11:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
With all the ignorant illegals moving in the graduation rate will be in the 50's by 2020 . Then our taxes will be spent on hiring more ESL teachers and "special" programs so that the schools may work with these social parasites who refuse to assimilate.Instead of taking responsibility like the Asian community you will be saddened to know that these students parent(s) mock education and are sexist as well. Just look at Sterling, what was once a nice area is now one gigantic Latino shelter.
Posted by miniturk15 (anonymous) on October 11, 2008 at 3:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I find this statistic sad for a county that is supposedly "the wealthiest county in the nation" and 70% of our taxes go to pay for a school system that is obviously not doing its job. Our figures should be more in line with Fairfax County.
Posted by livingloco (anonymous) on October 11, 2008 at 8:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Maintain the focus people. and I would suggest that if your going to post. you READ the article. FYI for you that want the short version
Alexandria: 76.2
Arlington County: 81.9
Falls Church: 97.6
Fairfax County: 91.2
Loudoun County: 92.6
Manassas: 74.5
Manassas Park: 85.1
Prince William County: 82.8
Only Falls Church had a higher Gaduation rate. I for one would consider this a significant endorsment of the effectivness of our school system. (not its finances just its effectvness)
Posted by beenaroundhere40ormore (anonymous) on October 11, 2008 at 9:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry, beenaround.
I did read it, and VA--particularly Northern--has done well. It's to be expected, with the education level of the bulk of the residents here, also part of the fact that we are the economic engine for the state at large.
But we are heading into a budget shortfall, and schools are a convenient target and excuse--see the remarks of some of the usuals who immediately declare our high percentages inadequate and demand their "money back".
We are mandated to provide schools.
In a real belt-tightening effort, schools are one of the things we must continue to provide, and should not be receiving drastic cuts until the feel-good fluff in our budget has been eliminated.
We do not tax over $3 BILLION in assessed value in Loudoun each year for land use, of which an apparently growing percentage is "open space", or providing a land use reward for not using land.
We should not be giving a tax break for land that cannot be used anyway if basic services like (high-performing!) state-mandated schools are on the block.
Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on October 11, 2008 at 10:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Open space doesn't require any basic services, let alone schools.
.
For as long as you've been around here, for as long as you've ranted on every blog in the county about open space easements, your failure to grasp this one simple point boggles the mind.
Posted by AFF3 (anonymous) on October 11, 2008 at 3:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"We are mandated to provide schools."
--
Very true. We are not, however, mandated to bleed taxpayers to provide the equivalent of Sidwell Friends, The Langley School or Nysmith. Let's face it, that's what some parents really want us to pay for: excellent classes, teeny-tiny student-teacher ratios, a wide swath of courses, a community spirit of excellence that pushes each individual to succeed. That is a noble thing to want - but it's unrealistic in a public school environment, which by law cannot be selective of the type of student to whom it caters, while private schools can and do. There's a reason those "elite" schools cost upwards of $20,000/student and cater to only the best and brightest -- no matter how unfair it may seem, the qualities that make elite schools indeed "elite" (intense expectations for student success, extreme parental involvement, parental shouldering of costs of "extras" like trips to China, etc, etc, etc) just do not scale well for the population at large. It's not fair - but it's life. Public schools in large metro areas like this exist so that the rest of society doesn't fall through the cracks and can learn the basics - again, a noble goal! - but it is what it is ... and it's like trying to teach a pig to sing if you expect it to be anything other than that.
Posted by Justthefacts (anonymous) on October 11, 2008 at 11:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Justthefacts, I agree there can be program savings, and should be.
I don't know that we need white- or promethean boards, Hallowed Ground summer camp, and all the other perks in order to produce results.
We do need space to have whatever programs there are, though!
It may surprise you to know we already have schools in Loudoun in the $20K per seat range, with tiny student-teacher ratios. That is part of our "separate but equal" philosophy that is an outgrowth some of our government policy that aff3 is mindlessly touting.
I say "mindless" aff3, because you aren't thinking: If we are going to provide an "open space" tax deferral, the person should actually be PROVIDING that in return. If they don't have enough land to subdivide under our policy and ordinance, what the hell are they giving up in return for the tax break? NADA. They get one for having a big yard.
Separate but unequal, there, aff.
http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/200...
Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on October 12, 2008 at 11:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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