The Wichita NAACP Blog: New National Graduation Rate study is released

Profile in Courage: Dr. Ronald W Walters

As the President of the Wichita NAACP Youth Council in July of 1958, Dr. Walters led the group as they conducted the first successful student-led sit-in of the Civil Rights movement. Sit-Ins were not an approved tactic of the NAACP in 1958 so when the Branch and Youth council asked for the support of the National Office, they were turned down. It required an extraordinary amount of courage for Ron as the Youth President and Chester I Lewis, the branch President, to press forward over the objections of the National Office. When the sit-in ended in August of that same year, the Dockum drug store on the corner of Broadway and Douglass in Wichita Kansas was integrated - along with the entire Rexall Drug store chain and all its subsidiaries. Following the success of the Dockum Sit-In, the Oklahoma City Branch Youth Council conducted a sit-in that August. From there, the tactic spread throughout the Midwest. In 1960, a group of young men and women from SNCC conducted a sit-in in Greensboro North Carolina which many mistakenly believe to have been the first... Dr. Walters went on to become known throughout the world for his knowledge of African American politics and leadership. He headed the African American Leadership Institute and Scholar Practitioner Program of the University of Maryland, served as Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership, and retired as Professor Emeritus of the University of Maryland College Park. Dr. Walters was a dear friend, a supporter, and a mentor, and he will be sorely missed... July 1938 - September 2010

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

New National Graduation Rate study is released - How did we rate??

The Editorial Projects in Education Research foundation has released a 16 page comprehensive report on the Graduation Rates within the Nation's 50 largest cities. The report is significant because School Districts typically develop their own formulas for calculating their graduation rates. Because the formulas are determined locally and based on self-determined variables, they are generally of little comparative value. But this study used a simple and uniform formula to determine and compare the likelihood that a student who enters 9th grade in a given year, will graduate with their class on time - without dropping out or failing...

[click HERE for the full report]

The report lists the Wichita Graduation rate as 59.6% and shows a 21.2% gap between the Graduation rates of Urban and Suburban Wichita Schools. This is in stark contrast to the district's numbers. USD259 reported a graduation rate of 68.7% for the same period covered by the report and they say that the rate has since climbed to 76.4%.
.
We recognize that there are enumerable formulas that could be applied to determine graduation rates and that different formulas would almost certainly result in different numbers. But that being said, this report is invaluable because it provides a single consistent measure by which we can view our progress on this issue relative to other comparably sized districts. This report highlights the fact that we as parents, advocates, and concerned community members must maintain a healthy skepticism whenever any agency writes own report card. We must continue to constructively challenge the district to innovate and reach beyond previous paradigms as we seek to improve these numbers. When as many as 4 of every 10 of our youth are projected to drop out or fail before they reach the 12th grade, it's clear that we've all (schools, parents, and community) got a lot of work to do...