JOIN THE MOVEMENT
Prove demographics don’t
have to be destiny

We can’t remake our public schools without you.

CONTRIBUTE
Fix poverty by fixing schools

ConnCAN needs your support right now to make sure that every child in Connecticut, regardless of race, ethnicity, or class, has access to a great public school.

In the News
May 18, 2012
Fairfield County Business Journal

With new federal data showing continued, middle-of-the-pack performance by Connecticut schools, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy found the middle ground among competing interests for a landmark education law.

For once, teachers were not front and center in the debate.

May 8, 2012
Wall Street Journal

HARTFORD—In a sweeping education deal with lawmakers and teacher unions here, Gov. Dannel Malloy gave ground on some of his farthest-reaching proposals but contended the compromise was still a historic overhaul of public-school policy in a state that has proved resistant to change.

May 8, 2012
Hartford Courant

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Monday night that his administration and lawmakers had reached an agreement on "meaningful education reform" — an agreement that he said adds nearly $100 million in new education spending and will help the state regain its competitive edge.

May 8, 2012
CT News Junkie

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders celebrated what they called an “historic” agreement on a sweeping education reform proposal that believe will help Connecticut erase its largest-in-the-nation achievement gap.

At a 10 p.m. press conference, Malloy told a packed room of reformers and leaders of at least one of the state’s teacher unions that the bill the Senate is expected to take up later this evening is just a beginning.

May 7, 2012
The Hanging Shad

Say this for Gov. Dannel Malloy, love his policies or hate them, he has largely gotten what he wants in his first year and a half in office. He pushed through the largest tax increase in state history after inheriting a $3 billion-plus disaster of a state budget; he was able to wring desperately needed concessions out of the state employee unions (after first failing); he instituted the “First Five” job-creation program; and won hard-fought approval for the Jackson Labs economic development project..

See All News

Social Networking
Talk to us on
Home
Research

2004 Connecticut Graduation Rates Analysis

June, 2007
2004 Connecticut Graduation Rates Analysis Cover Image
application/pdf iconConnCAN_Grad_Rates_Comparison_2004.pdf

Report Finds Connecticut’s High School Graduation Rates Are Overstated

A school system’s high school graduation rate is one of the most important indicators of its success. Research has demonstrated that, on average:

* High school dropouts earn just 37 cents for every dollar earned by high school graduates.
* High school dropouts live 9 years less than high school graduates.
* Every 10 percent increase in high school graduation rates is correlated with a 13 percent lower rate of auto thefts and a 20 percent lower rate of murders and assaults.

While the consequences of a low graduation rate are clear, a new report released May 30th by Education Week’s Project Graduation suggests that Connecticut’s official graduation rates are anything but.

Drawing upon results from the U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data (CCD) on the class of 2004, Education Week’s Project Graduation calculated graduation rates for 93 percent of all public school districts in the United States using the Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI) method. This approach represents graduating from high school as a four-year process from 9 through 12 grade, rather than a single event, and measures graduation based on receipt of a standard diploma rather than a GED or other equivalency degrees. (It is important to note that this methodology uses a baseline of all 9th grade students, counting transfers to parochial, private or other district schools as well as dropouts in the category of non-graduates of the system while counting transfers into the system as graduates.)

ConnCAN’s comparison of the Project Graduation results to official Connecticut State Department of Education figures reveals significant discrepancies between this cumulative approach and the official rates:

* The overall graduation rate for Connecticut in the Project Graduation study was 10 points lower than the official statewide average of 90 percent.
* In 90 percent of Connecticut districts, the Project Graduation rates were lower than the official graduation rates.
* In 43 percent of Connecticut districts, the Project Graduation rates were 10 points or more below the official graduation rate.
* In 13 districts the Project Graduation rates were 20 or more points below the official graduation rate: Manchester (33.1 points below), Stafford (31.2), Middletown (29.5), Bloomfield (28.0), Hartford (25.5), Plymouth (23.5), Brookfield (22.1), East Hartford (21.9), Bethel (21.7), Rocky Hill (21.1), New Haven (21.1), Vernon (20.9), and Putnam (20.8).

The Project Graduation report comes on the heels of a national push to measure high school graduation rates more accurately, including the adoption of a “Compact on State High School Graduation Data” developed by the National Governors Association and endorsed by Alliance for Excellent Education, Association of American Colleges & Universities, Education Commission of the States, National Education Association, and The Education Trust. The compact calls for a uniform standard with three key characteristics: 1) four-year adjusted cohort graduation rates, 2) longitudinal tracking of individual students from preschool through postsecondary education, and 3) straightforward annual reports on rates of graduations, completions and dropouts.

Share |