We need to do away with the graduation rate and use a literacy rate.
As CMS graduation gap fades, a troubling skills gap remains
Ten years ago, when a judge accused four Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools of academic genocide, roughly 40 percent of their students were dropping out.
Three years ago, when Project LIFT philanthropists kicked off a $55 million turnaround project focused on West Charlotte High, that school’s graduation rate was only 56 percent.
This year, West Charlotte’s graduation rate hit 76 percent. Garinger and West Meck, the other two remaining “genocide” schools, were at 89 percent and 84 percent, respectively (the fourth closed a few years ago).
North Carolina’s 85 percent graduation rate for 2015 was an all-time high. CMS topped that by three points, at 88 percent. All groups in CMS have made steady gains over the last five years, with the biggest improvement among the black, Hispanic and low-income teens who were leaving school at the highest rates.
That’s some very good news. Young adults with diplomas have a better chance than dropouts of getting a job and staying out of trouble.
Three years ago, when Project LIFT philanthropists kicked off a $55 million turnaround project focused on West Charlotte High, that school’s graduation rate was only 56 percent.
This year, West Charlotte’s graduation rate hit 76 percent. Garinger and West Meck, the other two remaining “genocide” schools, were at 89 percent and 84 percent, respectively (the fourth closed a few years ago).
North Carolina’s 85 percent graduation rate for 2015 was an all-time high. CMS topped that by three points, at 88 percent. All groups in CMS have made steady gains over the last five years, with the biggest improvement among the black, Hispanic and low-income teens who were leaving school at the highest rates.
93.7 percent: 2015 grad rate for CMS white students
86.5 percent: Rate for CMS black students
82.8 percent: Rate for CMS low-income students
79.4 percent: Rate for CMS Hispanic students MORE.... http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/your-schools-blog/article33612873.html
86.5 percent: Rate for CMS black students
82.8 percent: Rate for CMS low-income students
79.4 percent: Rate for CMS Hispanic students MORE.... http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/your-schools-blog/article33612873.html
Good to see a fairly decent correlation between EOC proficiency and ACT readiness (whatever THAT means...). I'm assuming that's a GOOD thing, but "readiness" sounds like you know just the basics. I guess I'll have to look it up...
ReplyDeleteThe material I've seen on the ACT website don't make this very clear, either, so I'm still not exactly sure what this is measuring.
But whatever it is measuring, the graduation rate doesn't necessarily reflect ACT readiness or EOC proficiency.
That, of course, means that some of the diplomas are pretty much bogus and not up to "standard".
And people wonder why public education is saddled with so many "standardized tests".
THIS IS EXACTLY THE REASON.
Because you just cannot trust the schools to produce a competent graduate if left to their own "standards".
The country figured this out way back in WWI when they first implemented standardized IQ tests for incoming soldiers nearly 100 years ago, which were called the alpha and beta tests.
World War I Intelligence Test (1918)
http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/iqtest.htm
I remember taking the ASVAB when I was in school. It was a different type of tests with all kinds of questions about practical things such as tools.
I basically qualified to be anything I wanted to be because I could figure out what a tool was most likely used for without ever having used it.
Even though I NEVER took a "shop" class...
My son took the ASVAB in high school as well. He made a 58, which while not a high score (it's not a 0 to 100 scale), did qualify him to be able to join all branches of the military. The higher the score, the more opportunities within the service you have for different jobs.
DeleteHe was trying to get into the AIr Force, but the ASVAB score didn't give him much opportunity there so he decided to take it again. This time he had to take it at the Armed Forces center on a computer. First time was on paper.
His score DROPPED to a 38. After analysis of the test scores, it showed that he scored very well on the artistic side, but dismal on the mechanical side.
Long story short, he got into the Army and has done very well for himself. Over the past 4 years, his mechanical skills have greatly incresed due to hands-on work on equipment, etc.
He retook the ASVAB a couple of months ago in advance of his re-up to open up more opportunities. His score increased 40 points, the second highest they had, so now he has all sortsd of options.
What's lacking today is common sense and teaching life skills. I've said forever that it should be mandatory in high school to take such a class that teaches, sex ed, basic accounting, how to balance a checkbook, etc.
I can agree on the practical and life skills. I've always thought a REAL "home" economics class (not just baking and sewing) would be real useful.
DeleteI can remember taking a real short practical class like that in my rural HS. It was the first time I ever saw how to write a check, believe it or not. Certainly not a difficult thing, but puzzling if you've never done it and easy once you've seen it done.
Same with many mechanical things. When I was a kid, there was some kind of myth that people who were "book smart" COULD NOT be "good with their hands", so people were always surprised when it turned out that I could also figure out how to fix things.
Once I got out into the world, I found that A LOT of "book smart" people were also good at things like auto mechanics and hobbies like beer brewing and cooking or whatever.
Ah, maybe I've got it. The Act readiness scores MAY be the ACT college readiness scores. In that case, I would expect it to measure college readiness according to the way ACT evaluates it.
ReplyDeletePlus I found this blurb in the article box...
"ACT readiness" is the percent of students taking the exam who earned a score high enough to qualify for admission to the UNC system.
Makes more sense that way...
Plus it is particular to the UNC system.
So I guess THAT "standard" would vary depending on which college "system" you targeted. Sheesh.
And people wonder WHY we need REAL STANDARDS.
Would be MUCH SIMPLER if they just published what that ACT score happens to be.
But, no, I guess that would be too easy...
And it doesn't surprise me that they use a "fudge factor" for this by selecting the school "system".
Makes me wonder if there is any pressure to lower those ACT score admission standards for the UNC "system" just to make the CMS public schools look better.
If not, some educrat should start working on it.
Hate to sound so cynical about these things, but Google is definitely my friend...
ReplyDeleteAll I need do is think of an obvious loophole for the educracy and, voila, there's my evidence.
http://www.nationalreview.com/phi-beta-cons/391573/unc-system-allows-three-schools-lower-admission-standards-george-leef
Well, wouldn't you know it?
Three HBCU's have been allowed to set lower ACT/SAT score admission standards.
Shocking, shocking, I say...
Now, I wonder if THOSE are the "standards" which are used to determine ACT "readiness".
Again, just because I'm cynical about these things doesn't mean I'm wrong.
After all, they do say UNC "system", and those HBCU's ARE part of the "system"...
Nothing much surprises me in the slimeball world of public education anymore.
In the above article...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nationalreview.com/phi-beta-cons/391573/unc-system-allows-three-schools-lower-admission-standards-george-leef
I just love the circular reasoning cited...
Proponents for lowering the scores claim that high school records are a better predictor of college success than standardized test scores like the SAT/ACT.
Ah, now WHERE have we heard THAT argument before?
Seems that some lady named Pam was behind some of the anti-test fever a while back and used such rhetoric.
OK, but, as with all such claims, you have to consider that while HS performance probably IS a good indicator for SOME SCHOOLS.
It probably IS NOT for OTHER schools.
WHICH IS WHY WE WERE FORCED TO USE STANDARDIZED TESTS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
SO DUH.
So, it is a bit disingenuous to say that, in general, HS records are a better indicator of college success than test scores, when you know for a fact that a large number of schools continue to graduate students who clearly ARE NOT ready for college.
Just look at the CMS charts and you will see WHICH schools have a high correlation between graduation rates and ACT scores and EOC grades and you can tell which ones most likely equate to success in college.
If anyone has any evidence which proves otherwise for THOSE PARTICULAR schools, then bring it on.
Of course, if they attend a low-performing college, then who knows what that really means or what their eventual degree is worth in the real world.
But this all sounds like a great boost for the HBCU's...
What's simply amazing to me is to see the ACHIEVEMENT GAP become an INSTITUTION.
ReplyDeleteNow we have low-performing kids going to low-performing schools, getting low-performing diplomas so they can be admitted to low-performing colleges and get low-performing degrees.
And of course, they will all expect high-paying jobs when they "graduate".
And it's not going to work that way.
Meanwhile it's considered "racist" to HAVE or SET low-expectations for many of these same people!
What the heck?
Does that mean that the HBCU's are an integral part of the "institutionalized racism" in our society?
Say it isn't so...
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ReplyDeleteWhile I'm on a roll myself...
ReplyDeleteInteresting article from the same guy in a different website (but mentioned in his above article...):
Educational Malpractice Abounding
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/2013/08/educational_malpractice_abound/
About one of these "A" students (also the salutatorian for his HS class) who goes to college (Berkeley) and finds out that he's practically illiterate...
(All except for his African American Studies course in which he miraculously earns an A-, all while nearly flunking Freshman composition. Again, those "expectations"...)
And the original LA Times article on the same kid with more details of his struggles...
South L.A. student finds a different world at Cal
Kashawn Campbell overcame many obstacles to become a straight-A student. But his freshman year at UC Berkeley shook him to the core.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-c1-cal-freshmen-20130816-dto-htmlstory.html
Real people here, not just statistics...
(Oddly enough reminds me of the black guy I had in my study group during my MBA program. He was a semi-literate, too. Pretty pathetic how we all found out on the day he was to submit a paper for our "group" which he had kept hidden from us despite repeated requests...I don't think he lasted past the first semester once he was "outed". I'm sure he got in under "special" circumstances. Because HE COULD NOT WRITE a coherent sentence, much less a paragraph. His writing was truly pathetic. He COULD NOT have passed a Freshman composition class in ANY college worth a crap. I think he had an engineering degree from a HBCU, though.)
After grad school, I was short one science class in order to secure a lateral entry teaching license in dance. I decided to take a science class at a HBCU. Only "A" I ever received in a science class in my life. Of course, we really didn't do much science. My first assignment was to give an oral report on a famous black scientist. Yep. The class was pretty much at a 7th - 8th grade level which is why we have standardized exams for people like doctors.
ReplyDeleteThe African-American drop-out rate at colleges that have lower admissions standards for African-Americans is very high. Unless you're a star football or basketball player majoring in African studies.
Maybe I should have studied to become a doctor at a HBCU.
DeleteMy rural HS had some fairly pathetic science classes, too. My Chemistry and Physics teacher was a woman who was married to the Social Studies teacher. They were BOTH fundamentalist Christians and not very smart.
In Chemistry, the teacher made us skip the first few chapters because they talked about abiogenesis and the MIller-Urey experiment. I thought this was great stuff, but "creationists" hate it.
Anyway, we didn't learn SQUAT in Chemistry because the teacher knew nothing and it's just a bit too difficult to learn Chemistry through osmosis.
Unfortunately, I HAD THE SAME WOMAN FOR PHYSICS.
Crap. In that class, I was able to read the book and understand it myself, but the teacher and most of the class couldn't.
I had the only legitimate A in the class.
The teacher decided that since her church was collecting Campbell's Soup Can labels for some project or the other that she would give "extra points" to kids for bringing in soup labels.
I AM NOT KIDDING.
Due to that, several kids then got A's and most of the class had their grades jump at least a grade level, even a few who were failing managed to "pass".
And that's the crappy "science" education I got from a public school.
The height of embarrassment to me (if not our teacher, who probably didn't care) was when a student visiting from another school in the "city" could explain why electrical charges were evenly dispersed across a charged metal sphere (Gauss' Law) while our teacher had no clue except to say "well, that's what the book says"!
Yeah, well a Physics text isn't the Bible and you need to understand WHY it was written, not just that "it was written".
Sheesh.
It's wonder I had to become a math major with that "science" background...
The saddest thing to me in HS science class is that I was actually a bit of a science geek and loved the stuff. I just couldn't figure it all out (especially Chemistry) on my own.
DeleteBy the time I got to college, I was just so far behind what the other kids knew that I knew that I could not reasonably expect to catch up and I didn't have any particular aspirations to become a doctor or scientist at that time anyway.
So I had to "pick my battles" and chose to develop my math skills instead. I took a Physics and Astronomy class, but those were more for fun than anything else.
And, of course, I took a good bit of Psychology (a "soft" science compared to Chemistry, for sure...)
It's a dirty little secret but many African-Americans who would like to become licensed teachers can't pass the standardized tests to do so. The Adult Degree Education Program at Belmont Abbey College is a local case in point. I have to wonder if this is one of the reasons Johnson C. Smith Univ. shut down it's Education Department.
ReplyDeleteNothing much surprises me anymore. I had one fairly decent black HS teacher who taught English. My other black teacher taught History and was the one who did her best to dumb down the tests to the basketball players would retain team eligibility.
DeleteThat is the class where I had to read tests to the illiterate blacks in the NINTH GRADE and MARK THEIR ANSWERS because most of them had no idea how to write or even CIRCLE "T" or "F" on a freaking test.
Those "men" should have been in third grade learning how to read and the public schools did them a great disservice by passing them along just to play HS basketball when they got taller.