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Why surging high school graduation rates might be a mirage

January 9, 2017 /

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U.S. high school graduation rates are soaring. President Obama announced in October that the 2014-2015 rate was up to 83 percent in a fifth straight record-setting year. The D.C. public schools’ increase was the greatest anywhere, from 53 percent to 69 percent.

Sadly, as impressive as these numbers seem, there is no research indicating they reveal any learning gains in our high schools. Because of an accelerating use of a shortcut to graduation called credit recovery — used by 88 percent of school districts — most if not all of this much-publicized high school improvement might be an illusion.

By Jay Mathews

Full Story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/why-surging-high-school-graduation-rates-might-be-a-mirage/2017/01/08/d31f9956-d3ac-11e6-a783-cd3fa950f2fd_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-national%3Ahomepage%2Fcard&utm_term=.a752e2587668