Schools: Behind Rochester's graduation numbers

March 10, 2010 at 10:58am

The news about the Rochester school district's latest graduation rate was no surprise; it had been expected for months. But that doesn't make it any more palatable.

For the 2008-2009 school year, the "on-time" graduation rate - for students who complete high school in four years -was 46 percent, a decline from the previous year's 52 percent.

The district's critics, predictably, are seizing on this, but they're overlooking a pertinent qualifier: the state raised the graduation requirements. Comparing the two years, then, isn't comparing apples to apples. It's hard to say what the rate would have been for 2007-2008 had the requirements been the same.

And the fact is, using the old requirements, the district's graduation rate had gone up three years in a row, from 39 percent in 2006 to 48 percent in 2007 to 52 percent in 2008.

The bad news, of course, is that the previous requirements were so weak that for many students, a diploma didn't mean much.

We still have a long, long way to go before we're giving all students what the state constitution guarantees them: "a sound, basic education."

Comments for "Schools: Behind Rochester's graduation numbers" (1)

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james said on Mar. 10, 2010 at 1:27pm

The current rates of graduation is nothing to brag about. The same organization has been "RUINING" our schools for decades. Only their names have changed. Why not give a chance for a new direction? One complaint is that funds will be moved from the school budget and used for other city shortfalls. If the Mayor can give the same results with less expense, go for it..

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