Graduation Rate News Story from Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan's revised, lower high school graduation rates
resulted in fewer schools meeting federal No Child Left
Behind goals, the state said Monday.

About 80 percent of Michigan's public schools made
adequate yearly progress under the federal law for the
2007-08 report year, according to the state Department of
Education. That's down from 83 percent in the 2006-07 report.

The lower percentage in part reflects the state's
revised methodology for calculating high school graduation
rates. For the first time, the rates reflect the percentage
of students getting a regular diploma within the traditional
four-year high school timeframe — a change required by No
Child Left Behind rules. All states either have adopted or
are moving toward similar methodology.

Michigan's 2007 high school graduation rate was
calculated at 75 percent by Michigan's Center for
Educational Performance and Information. The statewide
graduation rates, using different methodology that
didn't necessarily require regular diplomas within four
years and did not track individual students as accurately,
were above 85 percent in each of the two previous years.

That means fewer high schools now are meeting the No Child
Left Behind requirement of an 80 percent graduation rate.

"To be competitive, Michigan needs the best educated
work force in the nation, and the fact that one in every
four high school students is failing to graduate on time is
totally unacceptable," Gov. Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

Michigan also raised its scoring requirements for
standardized tests, including the Michigan Educational
Assessment Program and the Michigan Merit Exam. Even though
test scores were generally better in the past year, in some
cases they didn't improve enough to meet the higher standards.

"The bar was raised this past year," State
Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said in a
statement. "We asked our schools to make a big jump.
Some made it, yet some didn't get the whole way and
they still have more work to do."

Michigan's new graduation rate is not directly
comparable with older rates. But the new measure is more in
line with what outside estimates projected the rate would be
when based on the number of students who graduate within
four years.

The city of Detroit's public school system had a 58
percent graduation rate under the new formula — higher than
some estimates had forecast, but lower than the 67 percent
rate posted for the class of 2006 under different methodology.

The statewide dropout rate for the class of 2007 was
calculated at 15 percent within the four-year period.
That's far higher than estimates for previous classes
using the different methodology.

Detroit's dropout rate for 2007 was 30 percent.

In part because of the graduation rate changes, only 47
percent of the state's public high schools made
adequate yearly progress in the 2007-08 report. That's
down from 60 percent in 2006-07.

About 93 percent of elementary schools and 89 percent of
middle schools made adequate yearly progress in the latest report.

Schools that don't make adequate progress for two
straight years wind up on a sanctions list. The sanctions
get tougher every year.

Schools that repeatedly miss standards must allow their
students to transfer to better-performing schools and
eventually may have to restructure staff or curriculum.

Related website links

Graduation Rates Toolkit--contains press releases, letters to parents, talking points to use when speaking about your graduation rates.

Michigan Graduation Rate Briefing with CEPI--MDE video and Powerpoint

Four-Year Cohort Graduation and Dropout Reports-- Link to the Center for Educational Performance & Information (CEPI)

Dispelling the Myths about the Negative Effects of Raising Graduation Requirements--Easy to read report that provides data that dispels myths about increasing graduation requirements