Does Detroit really have a 25% graduation rate? No.

[Hannah Bell]

FOX News says research sponsored by the "America's Promise Alliance" shows Detroit graduating only 25% of its students.

However, the methodology they used compared the number of 1999 freshmen enrollees to the number graduated 5 years later, without taking transfers (or out-migration) into account.

Detroit has lost more population than any city but New Orleans over the last 6 years. The US population grew 6% 2000-2006, but Detroit lost about 4%, mostly young people, & lost 11% of its jobs.

This mobility pretty much invalidates the researchers' methodology, which could only begin to be accurate with stable population & enrollment.


"DPS spokesman Lekan Oguntoyinbo acknowledges the district's graduation rate is nowhere near what it should be, but it's certainly not 25 percent. The state calculated the rate at 60.9 percent.

Michigan calculates graduation rates differently, and its rates are far higher than the EPE study. The state says the overall Michigan graduation rate for 2004 was 88.7 percent; EPE says it was 69.1 percent.

The Education Week report compared a district's freshmen in the fall of 1999 to the number of diplomas awarded in 2004 and didn't take into account student transfers. During the four years studied by Education Week, the number of students transferring to Michigan charter schools more than doubled, to more than 73,000 students.

Perhaps more than measuring dropouts, the district's number may reflect that flight. More than 51,000 ex-DPS students are enrolled elsewhere, The Detroit News reported this year.

Under the Education Week formula, Cortina Thomas will be counted as a DPS dropout, even though she graduated Saturday.

http://www.uwsem.org/blogist/2007/06/report-dps-has-25-...

[noamnety]

1. broken link (nt)