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June 25, 2009, 10:27 AM ET
Dropout Rates, Arts and Humanities, Graduation Numbers
Something troubling happened in the public schools in 2006. From 1996 to 2005, the high-school graduation rate increased by an average of close to one-third of a percentage point annually. But from 2005 to 2006, the figure dropped more than a full point. Here is a map of the states, from EPE Research, and you can see that the full variation from state to state reaches 35 percentage points. (Here is a story in Education Week on the trends.) The breakdowns by race and gender, too, are sometimes striking.
Here from Common Core is another report that has an interesting finding. It compares the curricula of some high-performing nations around the world to those of the United States and concludes, “Each of the nations that consistently outrank the United States on the PISA exam provides their students with a comprehensive, content-rich education in the liberal arts and sciences.” The report finds that arts and humanities requirements in school are common to nations whose students perform well on tests. Those countries share, says Lynne Munson (quoted by Education Week), “a dedication to educating their children deeply in a wide range of subjects.” The narrow focus on math and reading skills, Common Core infers, actually hinders the students’ performance on math and reading tests.
Another report appears here from American Enterprise Institute, a study of college graduation rates. The main conclusion: “Fewer than 60 percent of new students graduated from four-year colleges within six years.”
Finally, here is one of the best sites through which one can follow ongoing reports and commentary upon them. It’s called Flypaper, and is the blog of the Fordham Foundation.
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