Education: At Urban Schools, Grad Rates Are Rising

PROVIDENCE — High school graduation rates in Rhode Island’s poorest cities improved at more than twice the rate of the rest of the state during the last five years, according to a report released Monday by Rhode Island KidsCount.

EDUCATION
At urban schools, grad rates rising
But new report also notes that one in three students from R.I.’s poorest cities still aren’t graduating on time
By LYNN ARDITI JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
PROVIDENCE — High school graduation rates in Rhode Island’s poorest cities improved at more than twice the rate of the rest of the state during the last five years, according to a report released Monday by Rhode Island KidsCount.

But among those urban students, about 34 percent — or one in three, on average — still are not graduating on time, the report said.

The graduation rate in Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence and Woonsocket increased 10 percent since 2007, to 66 percent in 2012, the KidsCount report found. In the rest of the state, the graduation rate during the same five-year period rose 4 percent, to 83 percent in 2012.

The findings were presented at a daylong forum about dropout prevention at the Providence Marriott. The Providence Grad Nation Summit is part of a national campaign led by America’s Promise Alliance that aims to increase the national graduation rate to 90 percent by 2020.

So far, only Wisconsin and Vermont have met that goal.

Nationally, the high school graduation rate has been rising by an average of 1.25 percentage points each year since 2006, according to a February 2013 report, “Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic.” The improvement was driven largely by significant gains in the graduation rates of Hispanic and African-American students, which jumped to 71.4 percent in 2010, up from 61 percent in 2006.

The national average graduation rate was just over 78 percent in 2010, the report said.
“I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that this summit is really at the epicenter of Rhode Island’s economic development plan,” said Elizabeth Burke Bryant, executive director of Rhode Island KidsCount. “You are really driving the economic recovery train.”

Some of the improvements have been dramatic. For example, in Central Falls, the state’s smallest and poorest city, the high school graduation rate rose from 46 percent in 2007 to 68 percent in 2012, the report said. Similarly, Pawtucket’s graduation rate during the same period increased from 48 percent to 67 percent.

The Providence schools with the highest four-year graduation rates were Classical High School (97 percent), Times2 Academy (85 percent) and Academy for Career Exploration or ACE (84 percent), according to the KidsCount report. The lowest were at Central and Mount Pleasant high schools, both at 56 precent.

At the summit, state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist emphasized efforts to raise the state’s graduation rate, including improving literacy in the early grades and afterschool and summer math programs for high school students.

“We can no longer support a system in which students graduate,” Gist said, “but are not ready for success in college and in careers … ”

To help schools improve their graduation rates, a group of Providence high school students, called Young Voices, surveyed 635 high school students and found that discipline was a “major issue negatively impacting school culture,” according to a summary of the findings released Monday. The group called for “more consistent and effective discipline policies” similar to those that have been used in Central Falls to improve graduation rates.

In Rhode Island, 37 percent of all disciplinary infractions statewide in 2011-2012 were “attendance offenses,” according to the KidsCount report.

Research shows being suspended even once in ninth grade is associated with a twofold increase in the likelihood that the student will drop out of high school, according to KidsCount.