The U.S. Department of Education recently released data on the high school graduation rate.
The most conservative way to estimate the rate is to count only those students who get a diploma in four years, and to exclude those who graduate in August or take a fifth year or get a GED.
By the most conservative estimate (called the Average Freshman Graduation Rate), the graduation rate is up to 78.2 percent, a jump of nearly 5 percentage points in only four years. (If you were to add in those who get a diploma in the fifth year, the high school graduation rate is 90%.)
A reader noticed that Vermont has the highest graduation rate in the nation. If you check the data, you will see that Michelle Rhee’s highest rated states–Louisiana and Florida–have among the lowest high school graduation rates in the nation.
The reader points this out:
http://www.ed.gov/blog/2013/01/high-school-graduation-rate-at-highest-level-in-three-decades/
The U.S. Department of Education released a study of high school
graduation rates on Wednesday, January 23rd. Which state has the
highest graduation rate in the entire nation at 91.4%? Vermont.
That’s right, Vermont.
Besides the highest graduation rate in the country, what else does
Vermont have? We have an “F” from Michelle Rhee. We have NO waiver
from NCLB. We have NO charter schools. We have NO Race-to-the-Top
funds. Since we are at the top, I guess we don’t need to run a race
to get there.
Vermont has what really matters: strong communities, informed
citizens, generous taxpayers who support their children, and committed
professionals in the classroom.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Vermont also has the incomparable Susan Ohanian!
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We’re stuck with Malloy and Pryor.
But we do have Jon Pelto, Wendy Lecker and Sarah Darer Litmann!
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And a population in 2011 of 626,431.
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Yes Vermont! Come on Connecticut…. Striving for a big red F next year.
We can do it. We ARE revolutionary!
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Hey Vermont State Education Department, are you hiring?
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I traveled to Vermont in July of 2011 and fell in love with its natural beauty, but most importantly, I fell in love with the warm, kind, and friendly citizens of Vermont. This is just another reason to LOVE Vermont!! Re-working Ben & Jerry’s famous saying, Vermont’s slogan cold be “Peace, Love, and EDUCATION”!!
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Vermont also leads the nation in most quality of life measures. Also has small schools, small class sizes and citizens that are valued and listened to. Also community based and controlled schools and town halls and a progressive health care system that protects all its children. Somewhat mirrored by upstate NY rural schools although the powers in NY are working hard to dismantle small schools and local control.
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Don’t let any “no excuses” corporate reformers know I told you, but also part of this equation: “Vermont was the only state where median household income increased and the number and share of people in poverty fell. The state’s median income rose 4% to $52,776, while the poverty rate slipped to 11.5%, from 12.7% the year before. Vermont’s poverty rate is among the lowest in the nation.” — http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/20/news/economy/income-states-poverty/index.html
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I love to read these positive stories. They give me hope. Your last paragraph sums it all up for me!
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A couple of other interesting facts about Vermont are that it has the most homogeneous population of all the states (95% white) and the highest percentage of k-12 education funding from the state rather than local sources (85.7% is state funding in Vermont. In Illinois, one of the lowest in the country, it is only 27.6%).
Perhaps these factors also play a role in the high graduation rates?
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Definitely. They require(d?) wealthy communities who raise over the state cost/pupil figures to raise an equal amount for the state coffers. It has lead to the creation of some community foundations that are not interested in funding the schools of communities that keep turning down their school referendums. There are pockets of entrenched poverty that get lost in the rural outback.
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Sometimes I think Diane barely even reads this stuff before she hits the “post” button.
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(under) wow. For someone who plays at having a principled stance regarding RTTT,it’s rather underwhelming that you would highlight how some state, Vermont, is touted at being at the top. I guess it’s only a good “race” when your point of view is reinforced. No real context–for example, demographics, socio-economic status, income levels of those in ” strong communities, informed citizens, generous taxpayers who support their children, and committed professionals in the classroom”–just a strong debater’s point.
It is THIS kind of comparison that is precisely the systemic problem of RTTT and privatization; that there are “better” schools and that perhaps education systems should do well to emulate those at the “top”. Never mind the NATURE of the graduation such “high graduation rates” produce; exactly what kind of citizen, what kind of “committed” professionalism is employed (are teachers in Vermont more likely as research seems to indicate to eliminate the most troublesome and “problematic” students?) , what exactly do children “know and are able to do”? All that seems to matter is that there are high graduation rates and that it was done by winning a race that did not involve a state directly “competing” (sounds like a “I can get it for you wholesale” kind of argument).
RTTT and the current USDOE are wrong to force states to engage in “races” and the fact that the best argument some people can muster against it is that “they” are winning a race without really trying? If you want to win an argument against “racing” to provide children with the best education, you really shouldn’t engage the race either directly or indirectly. You should also be sure that your “evidence” is truly indicative of a quality of comparison. Otherwise, charlatans like Obama and Duncan will only turn it around and say “see?, We need RTTT so that everybody gets those results (yeah, it’s a stupid argument, but when have you ever seen capitalist politicians actually employ intellect when demagogy would do?)”
Percent of Vermont students proficient in the content area by grade span:
Elementaryj/Middle School (grades 3-8) Reading– 73%, Mathematics–65%, Writing 57%
High School (grade 11) Reading–72% Mathematics–38% Writing–50%
These results are the average rate of proficiency and by Vermont’s own admission, “economically disadvantaged” students (i.e. students of color and students in poverty) are a full “25 percentage points below their economically advantaged peers”. In 2011, only 50% of students in poverty measured proficient on tests of academic achievement (Vermont Dept. of Ed, http://www.education.vermont.gov/new/pdfdoc/dept/press_releases/EDU-Vermont_Schools_Closing_Achievement_Gap.pdf)
The State of Vermont does exactly what other states (with RTTT and other “accoutrements” from the NCLB) to tout their successes focusing on a few examples (“14 schools” in the above cited report) to show how they are “improving” on the “achievement gap”, but underneath the hype, children of color, working class children, and those in deeper poverty all remain as minimally successful as every state with the hated RTTT and strong drive toward privatization. Indeed, “stories” are the stock in trade (sometimes literally) that people like Rhee and supporters of privatization such as Obama and Duncan use to make their case for privatization. It is not the few individuals who achieve success that is important–not for a SYSTEM of education. There will always be stories to support one or another argument or “race”.
What exactly is the effect of ” strong communities, informed citizens, generous taxpayers who support their children, and committed professionals in the classroom” for the children in Vermont (or “Lousy”ana, or Minnesota. . .) who have historically NEVER benefited from public or privatized education? No one will disagree that the problems are “complex” or the solutions easy. However, there are two choices for a basic solution and those choices are easy: either we have education that actually is designed for success for ALL or an education replete with “positive examples” while the vast majority languish in ignorance and poverty–poverty of mind and poverty of body (for “privileged”students receive a substandard education whenever they “learn” that their privilege gets them an “advantage”).
As usual, I will not offer a program or set of solutions, but do not make the mistake to think I have none–I have lots. Rather, solutions are only important once we make key decisions and key choices together. The most important decision is to recognize we cannot create a true public form of education as long as we accept the premise of a society based on profit to the detriment of human need. The most important choice is that we will fight to gain the will to change that society. These are the meaning of our struggle against privatization and lesser-evil politics. I look forward to engaging the discussion as we march and act to Occupy the DOE on April 4-7; a place as good as any to start.
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Right. And it looks like nationwide graduate rates have increased by 14 percentage points from 2002-2003. Clearly this this means NCLB has been a huge success. I also hear that the upper school at Trinity School in NYC had a graduation rate of 100% this year. Wonderful news!
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NYS College Readiness metric and first year college completion are better measurements .. And depressing.
Sent from my iPhone
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Vermont also has one of the highest gun-ownership rates in the country (probably 25% of my students have their own gun and 60%-70% have at least one in the home) and one of the lowest school and societal gun-crime rates in the country.
Go figure.
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Our local paper reported this week that once again Wisconsin has the second highest graduation rate in the US, using the strictest definition of 4 year/June graduation. Governor Walker (a Koch and ALEC tool) recently addressed the State Association of School Boards meeting and said he’ll return some funding to schools (after the last budget’s draconian cuts) aimed at incentivizing success (based on scores, what else?) and increasing privatization. Can someone tell me WHY he would not be proclaiming the SUCCESS of public education in our state instead, then focusing funding toward schools with high rates of kids with underlying problems?
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I suspect that the rise in graduation rates has more to do with passing kids along than better educating those kids. If graduation is being treated around the nation the same way it is handled in the system where I work, that 4-year grad rate is extremely bloated by last-second makeups, hurried online sessions, and grade changes made without approval of the teacher of the course. The only reason no one is getting caught is that no one except a professional educator is going to complain if another child gets a diploma. And no one is listening to professional educators anymore.
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Yes, graduation rate means nothing if the bar was moved lower to raise the numbers. In every district that I’ve worked in since 2000, the bar has continually moved down to improve the numbers. Everybody that I know in schools know this is happening.
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Vermont also has small class sizes!
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Reblogged this on 70jamsession and commented:
First, thank you Diane Ravitch for this post and this good news in Public Education. We are not doomed, as so much of the rhetoric would have us believe. I can personally add to the validity of these awesome claims about Vermont. In 2006 and 2007, it was a privilege for me to learn about the community philosophy of Vermont schools through a graduate program in Massachusetts. I have been forever changed. Congratulations, Vermont! Your courage should be honored by those in education leadership taking heed. Wake up, New York!
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Graduation rates are nothing to boast about. Teachers are pressured not to fail anyone. If you pass everybody then grad rates will go up.
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VT is also very fortunate to have progressive, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders!
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Who won what race????????
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Vermont is the furthest along toward Single Payer Health Reform too.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81267.html
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Unfortunately, Florida has a very diverse population and a high poverty rate, both affect learning and graduation. Students whose parents have lived in the U.S. longer than the child has been alive, but still speak no English, do not hold a job, and do not have plans for either, ever. In spite of the “No Excuses,” idea, these situations strongly affect all of our children, not just those with lower socioeconomic levels, but those non-minority, English speaking, children of working parents. It is very difficult to grow flowers in rocks and salt water, many of these children rise above their situations, but so many never do.
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