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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Will NCLB changes improve grad rates?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced a few changes to No Child Left Behind Tuesday in an attempt to improve graduation rates.
All states will be required to use the same formula to track dropouts, transfers and graduation rates. Now states use a hodgepodge of methods that make it difficult for the public to see how their state compares to others.
Also, starting in with the 2012-13 school year states must meet graduation rate targets for subgroups of students — not just the overall population. This is similar to what is already required with test scores. This change will spotlight many schools’ failures to graduate minority students and children with disabilities.
Many state and national groups have long argued for the changes. But some are questioning why it’s taken the federal government so long. A new president will be in office in a matter of months and it is likely that No Child Left Behind will undergo some changes, regardless of who wins.
Also, researchers and civic groups have yelled for years that our graduation rates are too low. It seems as if almost every month a new study comes out about this problem.
Since we know graduation rates are already too low, what — if anything — can these NCLB changes do to improve it?
