BOE: Report Gets Hawaii’s Graduation Rate Wrong
Education Week’s widely cited report on graduation rates uses a different formula to determine graduation rates from the one states generally use. Indeed, its calculation estimates Hawaii’s graduation rate to be about 14 percent lower than the rate calculated by the state.
We wrote about the 2010 EdWeek report earlier today in our , citing the fact that it classified Hawaii’s statewide school district as one of 25 “dropout epicenters.” But a closer look at the report’s method shows the dropout data may be based on an imprecise graduation rate formula.
EdWeek, a national trade magazine, uses a “cumulative promotion index” method to estimate graduation rates. To view its formula, download the (NOTE: The report costs $4.95 and can be downloaded in a PDF format. The CPI formula is outlined on page 9).
The magazine still uses the CPI because most states lack the capability to calculate more accurately.
EdWeek reported Hawaii had a graduation rate of about 65 percent in 2007, compared with the 78.9 percent rate the reported that year.
Hawaii Board of Education spokesman Alex Da Silva e-mailed Civil Beat after the post to point out the differences.
“The way states measure graduation rates has been a point of debate for several years,” Da Silva wrote. To resolve the differences, all U.S. governors signed a compact five years ago through the National Governors Association to use a by the year 2012.
The U.S. Department of Education in 2008 calling for the need for such a standardized “cohort” graduation rate. It defined the cohort rate as “the number of students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma divided by the number of students who entered high school four years earlier.”
The NGA’s cohort formula is widely considered to be more accurate than other methods because it also adjusts for transfers in and out of the system, emigres and deceased students. At least have now implemented the standardized formula.
Hawaii is not yet one of those — although it is scheduled to implement the new graduation rate next year, Da Silva said — but its current formula is already similar to one approved by the NGA. It tracks the percentage of first-time ninth-graders who graduate four years later.
Thoughts on the graduation rate? Share them in our ongoing education discussion.
