How many of our students graduate?

First the good news:

“In 2012, for the first time ever, one- third of the nation’s 25- to 29-year- olds have completed at least a bachelor’s degree. These across-the- board increases have occurred despite dramatic immigration-driven changes in the racial and ethnic composition of college-age young adults, a trend that had led some experts to expect a decline in educational attainment. College completion is now at record levels among key demographic groups: men and women; blacks, whites and Hispanics; and foreign- born and native-born Americans.” Released: November 5, college

Concentrating on HS and updating to 2009 (latest available…) data Published Online: June 1, 2012 in Education Week – Diplomas Count 2012 Published in Print: June 7, 2012, as Graduation Rate Keeps Climbing; Strong Gains for Latino StudentsStrong signs of improvement on graduation By Christopher B. Swanson

Our universities seem to do well…

NAEP - Reading 8 th grade

NAEP - Math 8 th grade

But internationally … U.S. reading scores on P rogram for I nternational S tudent A ssessment EDUCATION WEEK Published in Print: January 12, 2012, as “U.S. Education Pressured by International Comparisons” By Sean CavanaghSean Cavanagh “Concern over American students' middling scores on high- profile tests vies with caution about cultural and political factors that shape school improvement …. ” EDUCATION WEEK Published in Print: January 12, 2012, as “U.S. Education Pressured by International Comparisons” By Sean CavanaghSean Cavanagh “Concern over American students' middling scores on high- profile tests vies with caution about cultural and political factors that shape school improvement …. ”

But wait a minute …

Gasp! “A more accurate assessment of the performance of U.S. students would be obtained by comparing the scores of American schools with comparable poverty rates to those of other countries.” “Schools in the United States with less than a 10% poverty rate had a PISA score of 551. When compared to the ten countries with similar poverty numbers, that score ranked first.”

Country Poverty Rate PISA Score United States <10% 551 Finland 3.4% 536 Netherlands 9.0% 508 Belgium 6.7% 506 Norway 3.6% 503 Switzerland 6.8% 501 France 7.3% 496 Denmark 2.4% 495 Czech Republic 7.2% 478 <10% poverty

10 – 24.9% poverty

“The problem is not as much with our educational system as it is with our high poverty rates. The real crisis is the level of poverty in too many of our schools and the relationship between poverty and student achievement. Our lowest achieving schools are the most under-resourced schools with the highest number of disadvantaged students. We cannot treat these schools in the same way that we would schools in more advantaged neighborhoods or we will continue to get the same results.”

Yellow dots: US 0-10, 10-25, 25-50, avg, and % kids in poverty

Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (four-year) Class of

Who is served?

Who is served?

This is the latest report as of March, 2013

Now some sad news:

Now some bad news:

Who is served?

Who is served?

Educating more people to a higher degree % %

And on the WASL/HSPE: 82% of the class of 2011 who took the test passed the Reading HSPE. 86% passed the Writing HSPE. Only 66% passed the Year 2 Math test. (33% in ) BUT…. Washington 4th graders’ NAEP test scores in math went from 17th in the nation (1996) to 9th in At the same time Washington’s African American 4th graders went from 13th to 1st. 8th graders’ NAEP scores in math went from 14th to 7th. Washington’s African American 8th graders went from 19th to 2 nd in the nation _testscores31m.html