Board Discusses Graduation Rate as Academic Goal
June 4, 2008 - Graduation rate was discussed by the Board of Education yesterday as a potential measure for the school system’s academic goal.WCPSS Evaluation and Research Report on High School Graduation Rates 2005-06 |
In the board’s committee of the whole meeting yesterday, Superintendent Del Burns recommended that the WCPSS board, staff, and community commit to raising graduation rates to 90 percent by 2013 and to 95 per cent by 2015.
“Establishing a goal of 90 percent of our students graduating would challenge our school system and our community to help our students achieve academic success and provide one of the best school system’s in the nation,” said Dr. Burns. “If the nation’s top urban school district has a graduation rate of 90 percent and our rate is 79 percent, we will have to work together and provide the resources teachers and students need to meet such a challenging goal.”
In 2006-07, WCPSS had a graduation rate of 79.3 percent, compared with the state average of 69.5 percent.
In a new Education Week report released today, the Wake County Public School System is listed as sixth in the nation (among the country’s 50 largest school districts) based on graduation rates the magazine used for the Class of 2005. In Education Week’s list, a graduation rate of 89.6 percent was the highest for any of the country’s 50 largest school districts.
Data for this year’s graduation rate won’t be ready until later this year. More than 7,600 students will be taking part in graduation ceremonies at WCPSS high school’s through June 14.
The school system has determined the graduation rate may be the best way to measure academic success for the school system because the ultimate aim of schooling is to ensure that students complete their educations, prepared for whatever their future holds.
The graduation rate is a measure of the percent of students who graduate from high school four years after they enter as freshmen.
The discussion of a goal for measuring academic success grew out of the proposal for a multi-year funding formula laid out by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership. The two groups recommend the school system establish measurable goals to assess the use of education funding.
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