Posted: 12:00 a.m. Sunday, May 18, 2014

Minorities’ graduation rate inconsistent onlocal level

Percentage losses may beattributed to changes in the way the state measures data.

By Eric Schwartzberg

Staff Writer

    The U.S. public high schoolon-time graduation rate for the class of 2011 reached 80 percent, an all-timehigh, according to the Center for Public Education

Thatincrease, which reflects the most recent data available, was fueled bysubstantial gains achieved by minority students, the center said. Hispanicstudents increased from 64 percent to 75 percent. For black students, the raterose from 61 percent to 67 percent.

    But in Butler County, despite gains inon-time graduation rate in the vast majority of districts , Hamilton,Middletown, Fairfield and Lakota — the four districts with reported measurableblack and Hispanic enrollment — mainly have seen losses instead of gains.

Changesin the way the the Ohio Department of Education gauges data may have somethingto do with a large drop following 2008-2009, when schools switched from asimple “Final Graduation Rate” measure to 4-year “on-time” graduation rate.Smaller drops from the 2010-2011 to the 2011-2012 school year can be attributedto switching in 2011-2012 from the 4-year “on-time” graduation rate to the new4-year-longitudinal graduation rate, according to ODE spokesman John Charlton.

    “Four years ago, if 100 (out of 100) kidsgraduated, then you had a 100 percent graduation rate,” Charlton said. “Tenkids could have dropped out and 10 kids could have enrolled and you would havebeen able to get 100 percent because you started with 100 and you finished with100. But with the longitudinal graduation rate, we actually track eachindividual student.”

    That means if a district started with 100students and graduated 100 students but with 10 different students in the mix,that would bring its longitudinal graduation rate down because it would includethe 10 that did not graduate on time.

    “We feel it’s important to make sure thatevery student be accounted for,” Charlton said. “Because of that … we saw thegraduation rates drop a little bit (for 2011-2012 school year) because it’s alittle harder to meet that criteria.”

    With more information, data andtransparency, districts are becoming more aware of when they are losingstudents, which should spur them on to finding out where and why.

Thechange could also have broader ramifications when it comes to how a district israted.

    “In the past, where a district may havebeen “excellent” or “excellent with distinction,” but weak in one area, wedidn’t notice that one area that was weak. But now we do, because the report cardis a little more detailed and easier to understand,” Charlton said.

Anotherfactor may be enrollment gains. Lakota, Hamilton and Fairfield all saw an increase inthe percentage of black and Hispanic enrollment as part of total enrollment inthe four-year span.

    In Hamilton, where the percentageof enrolled black and Hispanic students has steadily increased, graduationtotals for blacks and Hispanics both saw losses. Graduation totals for blackstudents fell from 88.1 percent to 80.6 percent in the four-year span, whileHispanic graduation rates fell from 92 percent to 63.6 percent in the firstyear alone before rebounding to 81.8 percent by 2011-2012 school year.

    Keith Millard, assistant superintendent forinstruction in Hamilton City Schools, said the district looks at theperformance rates for all subgroups and is concerned with the graduation ratesfor all of its students.

“Recentchanges to our summer school and credit recovery programs have been made tospecifically address the issue of students who are credit deficient and at riskfor not graduating,” Millard said. “The approach at the high school is toaddress the need for credit recovery at the moment it is identified in order toreduce the number of students who get to significant levels of academicdistress.”

    The change in the way the state calculatedgraduation rates for students partially explains the reason for the perceiveddrop in performance for many districts after 2008-2009, he said.

     “Instead of calculating graduation ratesbased on the senior year and two year averages, the calculation is now based ona four and five year adjusted cohort, which accounts for the number of studentswho enter the class as freshman, adjusts for move-ins and withdrawals, and thenproduces a final graduation percentage,” Millard said.

“Hamilton City School District is committed tograduating as many of its students in four years as possible, but it alsocontinues to work with students that need additional time to complete theirgraduation requirements,” he said.

    “The acknowledgement by the Ohio Departmentof Education that some students need additional time, and the ability to getcredit for graduating students who need a fifth year, is a benefit to districtsthat strive to meet the learning needs of all students, including those whomany not graduate in a traditional four year time-frame,” Millard said.

    In Middletown, the percentage ofenrolled black students is about 2 percent less than it was 2008-2009 and therate of enrolled Hispanic students has climbed by nearly 3 percent. Thepercentage of black students graduating fell in 2009-2010 from 78.8 to 68.2,but has increased since then to 72.7 in 2010-2011 and 73.7 in 2011-2012.Hispanic student 4-year graduation rates rose from 53.3 percent in 2008-2009 to61.5 percent in 2009-2010, dropped to 54.2 the following year and rose to 57.1the year after.

Presentedwith those statistics, Middletown High School Principal Carmela Cotter stressedthat Middletown City School District’s graduation rate isclimbing.

    “We struggle with our sub group, but wehave supports in place to increase our graduation rates,” Cotter said. “We havespecial programs to assist students with graduation. Every student at MHSmatters.”

    Despite enrollment increases for blacks andHispanics, on-time graduation ranks for black students in the Lakota Local School District jumped from 81.1 forthe 2008-2009 school year to 90.1 by 2011-2012, according to the most currentdata available via the Ohio Department of Education.

    That was one of the factors in thedistrict’s graduation totals rising to 93.80 percent for the 2011-2012 schoolyear.

    Meanwhile, the rate of Hispanic studentsgraduating on time rates seesawed from 86.5 percent in 2008-2009, to 73.7percent in 2009-2010, back up to 86.5 in 2010-2011 and down to 74.4 percent in2011-2012.

    “We’re pleased with the steady progress ingraduation rates for African-American students, but we still have more work todo, with them and all our students,” said Randy Oppenheimer, spokesman forLakota schools. “Every student should graduate. Many of our Hispanic studentsare still building their English-language skills. That makes succeeding inschool even more challenging. We’re committed to helping them meet thosechallenges.”

    In Fairfield, where the percentageof enrolled black and Hispanic students also has steadily increased, graduationtotals for black students fell from 94 percent in the 2008-2009 to 80.2 in2009-2010, only to rebound to 88.4 by the 2011-2o12 school year.

Hispanicgraduation rates fell from 92 percent to 87 percent between 2008-2009 and2009-2010, rose to 89.3 the following year and dropped to 81.3 in 2011-2012.

Sucha shift in graduation rates among those students means the district will needto continue its work to ensure that its growing minority population of studentsis being served, said district spokeswoman Gina Gentry-Fletcher.

    “We have to be mindful that the variablesare huge with this data,” Gentry-Fletcher said. “Circumstances of the studentsduring a particular school year will impact the percentages, and it isdifficult to determine a reason without guessing. Diversity is a strength inour district, and we can use this data to improve programming to best serve allstudents.”

Black and Hispanic graduation rate

DistrictName/ Ethnicity/ 2011-2012***/ % of total enrollment/ 2010-2011**/ % of totalenrollment/ 2009-2010**/ % of total enrollment/ 2008-2009*/ % of totalenrollment

Fairfield City/ Black/ 88.4/ 14.8/81.3/ 14.6/ 80.2/ 13.9/ 94/ 13.1

Fairfield City/ Hispanic/ 81.3/ 6.9/89.3/ 6.2/ 87/ 5.7/ 92/ 5

Hamilton City/ Black/ 80.6/ 11.4/79.4/ 11.0/ 81.3/ 10.7/ 88.1/ 9.8

Hamilton City/ Hispanic/ 81.8/ 10.7/84/ 8.9/ 63.6/ 8.1/ 92/ 6.9

LakotaLocal/ Black/ 90.1/ 10.3/ 85.1/ 10.3/ 84.4/ 10.0/ 81.1/ 9.4

LakotaLocal/ Hispanic/ 74.4/ 4.8/ 86.5/ 4.3/ 73.7/ 3.9/ 86.5/ 3.3

Middletown City/ Black/ 73.7/ 15.8/72.7/ 15.6/ 68.2/ 16.2/ 78.8/ 17.8

Middletown City/ Hispanic/ 57.1/ 7.6/54.2/ 6.8/ 61.5/ 6.6/ 53.3/ 4.7

* -Graduation Rate

**-Four-Year “On-Time” Graduation Rate

***-Four-Year Longitudinal Graduation Rate

Source:Ohio Department of Education

Overall District 4-Year Graduation Rate

District/2011-2012 School Year/ 2010-2011 School Year/ 2009-2010School Year

Fairfield City/ 93.20%/ 91.00%/90.00%/

Hamilton City/ 82.50%/ 81.40%/81.70%/

LakotaLocal/ 93.80%/ 92.40%/ 92.40%/

MadisonLocal/ 93.30%/ 90.90%/ 84.10%/

Middletown City/ 78.60%/ 74.30%/72.60%/

Monroe Local/ 95.60%/ 95.00%/92.40%/

New Miami Local/ 85.10%/ 95.90%/88.40%/

RossLocal/ 97.90%/ 97.20%/ 92.10%/

Talawanda City/ 96.50%/ 96.90%/89.60%/

Source:Ohio Department of Education