Ohio lags in minority grad rates
Kentucky is doing much better, recent studies show
Denise Smith Amos
July 24, 2010
Ohio's public schools are losing about half their African American and
Hispanic students before they graduate from high school, making the
state among the nation's worst at graduating minority students, two
recent national reports show.
Diplomas Count 2010, put out by the Editorial Projects in Education
Research Center in Bethesda, Md., found that only 47.5 percent of Ohio's
black public school seniors graduated on time in 2007, the most recent
data available for state comparisons.
That makes Ohio eighth worst in graduating black high school students.
The national average graduation rate for African American students is 53.7 percent, the study says.
Another
report by the National Center for Education Statistics, using different
calculations, lists Ohio's black graduation rate at 55.5 percent in
2007, sixth- worst in the nation.
"Regardless of what study we
look at, we see this gap," said Scott Blake, spokesman for Ohio's
Department of Education. "We have made strides in certain areas, but it
hasn't been completely resolved."
The studies disagree on how well Ohio graduates Hispanic students.
Diplomas Count ranks Ohio eighth worst for graduating 46.4 percent of
Hispanic students, but the national statistics center says Ohio
graduates 65.6 percent, making it 19th worst.
In Kentucky, graduation gap statistics for minorities are better.
Diplomas Count says Kentucky's 60.5 percent graduation rate for black
students makes it 12th best in the nation, but the national statistics
center says Kentucky is 19th best. And the state ranks 17th best for its
56.9 percent Hispanic graduation rate in Diplomas Count, but the
statistics center says it's eighth best.
National graduation rates
for Hispanic students averaged 55.5 percent, according to Diplomas
Count. White, non-Hispanic students' graduation rates averaged 76.6
percent and Asian students averaged 80.7 percent nationwide.
Over
the prior four years, graduation rates for white and black students rose
nationally, but in Ohio the trend was mixed and the graduation rate gap
between whites and blacks grew. In Kentucky grad rates fell for
Hispanics, widening the gap between them and white graduation rates.
Overall, minority pupil populations are expected to grow and graduation gaps could widen, experts warn.
"If
the nation's education system does not start serving students of color
better today, all Americans will feel the difference in their wallets,"
said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education in
Washington D.C.
The alliance recently predicted that Ohio's 40,000
estimated dropouts last year could have earned $10.4 billion in
combined additional income over their lifetime had they stayed in
school.
In Greater Cincinnati, which includes some Northern
Kentucky and Southeast Indiana counties, cutting the projected 7,600
dropouts by a half would bring $42 million more a year in combined
income for the new graduates.
Yet, nationally, 1.3 million
students walk away from high schools without a diploma each year. In
Ohio, it's about 217 students a day.
"I think one kid dropping out
is one kid too many," said Kerry Hill, executive director of operations
at Campbell County schools.
"People feel like (the graduation
gap) doesn't affect them directly, but it does, because people that
don't finish high school ... will end up living in the same community
where they quit school. You won't have a skilled labor force, and your
crime rate will go up."
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland two years ago
piloted a Close the Achievement Gap plan that focused on keeping African
American male ninth-graders in school. It started at 13 schools,
including two in Cincinnati, providing tutoring, mentors and other
services.
This year, the program will expand to include all
genders, ethnicities, and grade levels at 42 high schools and 156
elementary schools in 17 school districts in Ohio that averaged less
than an 80 percent graduation rate over three years.
Amanda Wurst,
Strickland's spokeswoman, says those districts, still to be named, must
work to close achievement and graduation gaps.
"It's a challenge among all disadvantaged student groups," she said.
Many
factors create a high school dropout, experts say, from the need to
find a job, to a home-life crisis, to crime or incarceration, to
teen-age pregnancy. Kids start disengaging from school long before they
drop out, said Tom Rothwell, an assistant superintendent for Cincinnati
Public.
Literacy is a key issue, he said. CPS tests its
eighth-graders the summer before their freshman year; about 20 percent
test below grade levelin reading each year, Rothwell said.
Now the
district makes all eighth-graders attend summer "bridge" programs - a
week or two at their future high schools to get to know teachers, take
tests in math and reading, and learn how to study and manage time.
Once
in high school, CPS offers students online courses to help them keep up
on their credits. About 20 percent of CPS students take at least one
online course, Rothwell estimated, not counting the 250 or so who attend
CPS' Virtual High School.
Most area high schools have expanded online course offerings to help students make up missed credits and graduate on time.
New
Richmond schools runs a Graduation Academy at its district office,
helping about 20 students a year make up credits online. The district's
grad rate climbed from 89.9 percent to a record 94 percent over the past
two years, school officials said.
Sycamore High's online
education program, Aves Academy, even operates in the summer to help
at-risk students who had attendance and other issues affecting their
academics.
Hill at Campbell County said online efforts help, but
"a kid can't pass an online credit recovery course when they can't read
on grade level." High schools need to spend more time boosting literacy
skills, he said, and teachers need to cultivate relationships with
troubled kids.
At Lakota schools, there's also an issue of
language. Last year there were 965 English language learners in various
grades in the district, so schools began "intervening" in those
students' education earlier than in high school, said Tianay
Amat-Outlaw, curriculum administrator.
The school day was revamped
to fit in 30 more minutes of intensive help on reading, writing, math,
and other subjects. Also, teachers test more frequently and meet with
each other every six to eight weeks to discuss what works and what
doesn't for these and other high-need students, she said.
It's too
soon to see a graduation gap affect, Outlaw said, but last year's
English language learners did better on Ohio graduation tests than
classes before, boosting passage rates by 20 to 25 percentage points.
Teachers and schools need to feel responsible for all children graduating, Amat-Outlaw said.
"It's on us as teachers to change; it's not just on the child," she said.
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