HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS - Becoming Too Easy to Earn?

"Are kids getting shortchanged by easier-to-earn diplomas?" PBS NewsHour 6/9/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  While high school graduation rates have climbed steadily the last decade to an all-time high, a new investigation by NPR finds reasons to question the increases.  Federal data show 81 percent of students finish, but the value of a high school diploma can vary widely depending on the state and the student’s path.  William Brangham learns more from Anya Kamenetz, lead education blogger for NPR.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  High school seniors are graduating across the country this month.  Federal officials laud the fact that graduation rates have climbed steadily through the last decade.

But new reporting calls into question whether those numbers are rising for all the right reasons.

William Brangham brings us the details.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (NewsHour):  High school graduation rates are at an all-time high.  Federal data show 81 percent of students finish, and finish on time.

But a new investigation by NPR finds reasons to question that number.  Their reporting found that the value of a high school diploma can vary widely between, and even within, states.  In just nine states and the District of Columbia, students must complete required classes to be considered “college-ready” and to earn a diploma.  Twenty-three states allow students to opt in, or out, of a more rigorous path to graduation.

That leaves 18 states with requirements below what experts say students need for their next step in life.

NPR’s Anya Kamenetz has been working on the series and joins me now.

Anya, let’s talk initially about this 81 percent graduation rate number.  You say in your reporting that we should take that number with a big grain of salt.  Why?

ANYA KAMENETZ, Lead Education Blogger, NPR:  Well, that’s exactly what researchers are saying too.

And the reason is that other indicators such as the NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card, remediation rate at colleges, and even SAT and ACT scores, those are all flat.  So the fact that we have seen a 10-point gain or so in the last decade in the high school graduation rate really should be giving us pause.