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Graduation Rates Merit Skepticism

School systems are doing a much better job of getting students through high school with diplomas, President Barack Obama said this week. Nationwide, high school graduation rates are at a record high of 83.2 percent, the White House announced.

Here in West Virginia, with rates higher than the national average, the achievement in boosting graduation rates is even more impressive.

Or is it?

One reason to be suspicious of any statistic is its foundation. There are multiple, very different ways of calculating graduation rates. That in itself ought to raise questions — and not just ones about statistical methods. From state to state, even school district to school district, policies for what a student must do to earn a diploma vary enormously.

West Virginia uses two basic methods of determining graduation rates, one for students who get through grades 9-12 in four years and another for those who get diplomas in five years. The four-year rate is 86.5 percent.

Rates are even better in the Northern Panhandle, ranging from a low of 88.4 percent in Hancock County to a high of 95.5 percent in Ohio County.

But ought we to be celebrating those numbers or questioning them?

Within hours of the president’s announcement, education writers were pointing out that even as graduation rates have increased, standardized test scores have remained flat or even dipped slightly.

Only three standardized tests are given nationwide. Scores on one, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, have remained flat. Numbers on the other two, the ACT and SAT college entrance examinations, have declined.

So the question is this: Are the high school diplomas being handed out these days worth the same as those in the past? Are students being allowed to graduate without having learned what they should have?

Or, perhaps because of pressure to increase graduation rates, are more high schools sending students out into the world without good educations?

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