Lazaro Aleman: Greene Publishing, Inc.
The latest figures released by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) show that the state's high school graduation rate increased overall in the last year; a trend that has been continuing for the last 13 years.
The FDOE figures show the overall graduation rate was 82.3 percent in 2016-17, a 1.6 percentage point increase over 2015-16 and a 21.1 percent improvement since 2003-04, when the rate was 59.2 percent. Across the board, according to the FDOE, the numbers likewise improved for the different races, ethnicities and genders.Madison County didn't fare badly overall, although its graduation slipped slightly in 2016-17, compared with the previous year. The FDOE figures show that Madison had a 76.7 percent graduation rate in 2016-17, down 3.4 percent from 2015-16, when the graduation rate was 80.1 percent.
Going back three more years, Madison County had graduation rates of 58.1 percent in 2014-15, 75.7 percent in 2013-14, and 64.0 percent in 2012-13.
Federal regulations require that each state calculate a four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate that includes standard diplomas but excludes both regular and adult GEDs and special diplomas, according to the FDOE.
The U.S. Department of Education (USED), the FDOE reports, adopted the calculation method as a way to develop uniform, accurate, and comparable graduation rates across the country. The USED required states to begin calculating the adjusted cohort graduation rate in 2010-11. This graduation rate, according to the FDOE, is currently used in Florida’s school accountability system in the school grades calculation.
The FDOE explains that Florida’s graduation rate is a cohort graduation rate. It defines cohort as a group of students that are on the same schedule to graduate. The graduation rate, according to the FDOE, measures the percentage of students who graduate within four years of their first enrollment in ninth grade.
“Subsequent to their enrollment in ninth grade, students who transfer out or pass away are removed from the calculation,” the FDOE states. Meanwhile, transfer students who enter the public school system are included in the graduation rate for the class with which they are scheduled to graduate, based on their grade level when they enrolled in the system.
In the calculation, according to the FDOE, stringent guidelines are prescribed for not only the definition of a graduate, but also for the definition of a transfer. Students who transfer to adult education programs or are placed in jails or the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) facilities remain with their regular high schools’ cohorts.
How does Florida’s graduation rate compare with other states’ rates? The FDOE notes that the USED recently released information on all the states’ 2015-16 federal graduation rates; and Florida's was 80.7 percent, placing it above 14 other states (including the District of Columbia).
“This is an improvement over 2014-15 when Florida’s federal graduation rate was higher than nine states (including the District of Columbia),” the FDOE states, underscoring the latest improvement.
The FDOE also notes that although the federal uniform graduation rate is calculated in the same way by each state, the states have different requirements for how a standard diploma is received, which make the rates not directly comparable from state to state. “Florida’s standard diploma is a rigorous credential for which standards and testing requirements have periodically increased,” the FDOE states. “Because states have different criteria for awarding a standard diploma, comparing rates among states is problematic.”
The department also underscores that although Florida's graduation rate is 82.3 percent, this in no way means that 17.7 percent of the students in the cohort dropped out.
“Students in a cohort can be classified as graduates, dropouts, and non-graduates,” according to the FDOE. “Non-graduates include students who have been retained and are still in school, received certificates of completion, or received GED-based diplomas. Florida’s 2017 Legislature amended (the law) so that high school students who transfer to a private school with which the school district has a contractual relationship are included in the four-year adjusted graduation rate cohort of the last public high school they attended. These students are included in the percentage of non-graduates.”
In Florida’s 2016-17 cohort, the FDOE reports, 4.0 percent of the students dropped out; and 13.7 percent are still enrolled in school, earned a certificate of completion, a special diploma, a GED-based diploma, or withdrew to a contracted private school.”