NCLB and high school graduation rates

calmom · February 14, 2008, 4:09am

There is a new peer-reviewed study out documenting the effect of NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and related strict accountability systems on high school dropout rates. It is really depressing but I think important to read. I know that as parents of college & college-bound students we spend most of our time thinking about the high achievers --but there is another side to the story.

Link to full study: [EPAA</a> Vol. 16 No. 3 McNeil, et ak: Avoidable Losses: High-Stakes Accountability and the Dropout Crisis](<a href=“http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v16n3/]EPAA”>http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v16n3/)

Link to press release (quoted below): [As</a> graduation rates go down, school ratings go up](<a href=“http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/ru-agr021308.php]As”>http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/ru-agr021308.php)

New study shows the negative implications of No Child Left Behind

A new study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas-Austin finds that Texas’ public school accountability system, the model for the national No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), directly contributes to lower graduation rates. Each year Texas public high schools lose at least 135,000 youth prior to graduation – a disproportionate number of whom are African-American, Latino and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students.

By analyzing data from more than 271,000 students, the study found that 60 percent of African-American students, 75 percent of Latino students and 80 percent of ESL students did not graduate within five years. The researchers found an overall graduation rate of only 33 percent.

“High-stakes, test-based accountability doesn’t lead to school improvement or equitable educational possibilities,” said Linda McSpadden McNeil, director of the Center for Education at Rice University. “It leads to avoidable losses of students. Inherently the system creates a dilemma for principals: comply or educate. Unfortunately we found that compliance means losing students.”

The study shows as schools came under the accountability system, which uses student test scores to rate schools and reward or discipline principals, massive numbers of students left the school system. The exit of low-achieving students created the appearance of rising test scores and of a narrowing of the achievement gap between white and minority students, thus increasing the schools’ ratings.

This study has serious implications for the nation’s schools under the NCLB law. It finds that the higher the stakes and the longer such an accountability system governs schools, the more school personnel view students not as children to educate but as potential liabilities or assets for their school’s performance indicators, their own careers or their school’s funding.

The study shows a strong relationship between the increasing number of dropouts and school’s rising accountability ratings, finding that:

<pre><code>* Losses of low-achieving students help raise school ratings under the accountability system.

The accountability system allows principals to hold back students who are deemed at risk of reducing the school’s scores; many students retained this way end up dropping out.

The test scores grouped by race single out the low-achieving students in these subgroups as potential liabilities to the school ratings, increasing incentives for school administrators to allow those students to quietly exit the system.

The accountability system’s zero tolerance rules for attendance and behavior, which put youth into the court system for minor offenses and absences, alienate students and increase the likelihood they will drop out.
</code></pre>

The discrepancy between the official dropout rates, in the 2 to 3 percent range, and the actual rates can be attributed to the state’s method of counting, which does not include students who drop out of school for reasons such as pregnancy or incarceration or declare intent to take the GED sometime in the future.

The study analyzes student-level data of 271,000 students in one of Texas’ large urban districts over a seven-year period. It also includes analysis of the policy and its implementation, extensive observations in high schools in that district and interviews with students, teachers, administrators and students who left school without graduating.

calmom · February 14, 2008, 4:28am

I thought I’d also post a quote from the study itself showing how this also impacts college bound students:

[quote]
A focus group of African American honor students at Lincoln felt that their classroom
experiences had changed markedly since their teachers began paying increased attention to test
scores. At the time of the interview, this particular school had been targeted for possible closure the
next year due to failure under the Texas and federal (NCLB) systems of accountability. This group
of honors level, college-bound students were able to describe the aggravation they felt when the
focus of their academic curriculum was changed to test preparation. In one students words,

Instead of teaching us the real life things that we are going to need for college
and stuff, they started zeroing in just on that test. So it makes everybody nervous,
and it threw everybody off. So, like, our curriculum is thrown off, cause what
they originally were teaching us in the subjects, all of the sudden they switched,
and then they were just zeroing into this test.

Paradoxically, the students said that despite so much focus on the test, many students did not
pass, leading to even further frustration. Lenicia claimed to be over-educated for the test.
When the test day came, and many students didnt pass, the sense of personal failure was huge.
For these students the whole test-preparation process hindered rather than helped them in their
pursuit of an education that would prepare them for college.<a href=“From%20page%2028%20of%20study”>/quote</a>

jaybee · February 14, 2008, 8:17am

I have had similar concerns about HS graduation rates as schools impose graduation requirements unknown in our time–Algebra II, more credits in general, less free time/study hall, fewer vocational tracks.

ruca · April 23, 2008, 11:04am

[Table</a> 24. Actual and projected numbers for high school graduates, by control of school: 1991–92 through 2016–17](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/programs/projections/projections2016/tables/table_24.asp?referrer=report]Table”>http://nces.ed.gov/programs/projections/projections2016/tables/table_24.asp?referrer=report)

Are these 2006 statistics accurate?

ReneeV · April 23, 2008, 3:21pm

Calmom,
Thanks for posting the link to this report. It is very troubling. As a teacher, I am so tired of the “raise the bar” rhetoric of NCLB. As a very klutzy athlete, I know it doesn’t matter how high the bar is if I can’t jump! My high school requires three years of math and the lowest math we offer is algebra one. I’m all for high standards and opportunities, but we have a transient student population and some of them aren’t ready for algebra when they enter the ninth grade. If they don’t have the skills going in, they have little chance of building a foundation that will see them through three years of progressively more difficult material. We also have a 2.0 minimum GPA requirement for graduation. Students who come to us as seniors with a D average do not have a chance. I believe schools should set general achievement goals, but when punitive consequences are attached to the yearly progress requirements mandated by NCLB, the end result is that even more children are left behind.

mini · April 23, 2008, 3:59pm

This is a success story! The economy needs those dropouts desperately, far more than it needs more college graduates competing for jobs that only require a high school education.

NCLB and high school graduation rates

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