State’s new graduate-rate method concerns Youngstown schools’ chief
Hathorn
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Among the changes on the upcoming state report cards for school districts is an alteration in the graduate rate.
The modification calculates the rate based on how many students graduate in four years or less after entering high school. Previously, the rate was based on an estimate of how many 12th-graders graduate.
For Youngstown schools, the rate on the most recent report card would have been 58 percent, compared with about 68 percent based on the previous rate.
Superintendent Connie Hathorn is concerned about the change.
“My biggest concern is not so much rating,” he said. “It’s making sure kids graduate on time.”
As part of a revitalization plan for the district, announced a year ago and implemented for this school year, Hathorn established the P. Ross Berry Eighth and Ninth Grade Academy. Sixth- and seventh-graders in the district attend either Wilson or Volney Rogers schools.
Housing eighth- and ninth-graders in the one school is a way to prepare them for high school, he said.
“So many kids were repeating [those grades],” Hathorn said. “They would give up and drop out.”
But he acknowledged the results of that change won’t be seen for a couple of years.
“It’s going to take time to put programs in place,” the superintendent said. “Parents have to be involved with this situation. We’re trying to get kids to understand the impact it will have in life if they don’t graduate from high school.”
Because the report-card designations take many factors into account, it’s too soon to know how the graduate-rate change will affect it for the district, Hathorn said.
Patrick Gallaway, an Ohio Department of Education spokesman, said in an email that the U.S. Department of Education requires states to report a four-year adjusted graduation rate on annual report cards.
The new formula is to provide more consistency and allow comparison among states.
“We are still waiting for official approval from U.S. DOE on the new calculation to be implemented for Ohio permanently this fall,” he said.
The federal regulations also required the graduate rates to be reported for each demographic group.