Education Law

Schools finally get credit where credit is due

Under new NCLB regulations just released by the Department of Education high schools that stick with students who take longer than four years to graduate may finally get the credit they deserve. Previously under NCLB, schools were only given credit for those students who graduated in four years -- so if a student entered high school reading at the 5th grade level and it took the student an extra year to meet the graduation requirements the school would not get credit for graduating that student, just as if the student dropped out in the 9th grade.

BoardBuzz is glad to see the change, and maybe now we won?t see headlines like this from ?the most trusted name in news.? But like many others, BoardBuzz isn?t quite sure how many students actually take longer than four years to graduate and how that affects their lives after graduation. Good thing our friends at the Center for Public Education are working on a report? to be released in the coming weeks-- examining who these late graduates are and how they compare to their peers after graduating high school in such areas as earning a college degree, holding a full-time job, and likelihood of voting in an election. The Center is also looking into why some students take longer to graduate while other graduate on-time or leave high school all together.

BoardBuzz looks forward to hearing the answers to these important questions and will let you know as soon as the report is released. In the mean time to learn more about high school graduation rates and how they are currently calculated check out the Center for Public Education Guide to Calculating High School Graduate Rates.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on October 29, 2008 (boomark / email).