Kansas tied for 12th in high school graduation rate, according to new federal data

Posted by Scott Rothschild November 28, 2012 at 2:47 p.m.

Kansas tied for 12th in high school graduation rate, according to new federal data

Kansas' four-year high school graduation rate was tied for 12th in the country at 83 percent for the 2010-2011 academic year.

The data released by the U.S. Department of Education represents the first-ever list detailing state-by-state graduation rates using more rigorous measures, the agency said.

"By using this new measure, states will be more honest in holding schools accountable and ensuring that students succeed," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement. "Ultimately, these data will help states target support to ensure more students graduate on time, college and career ready," said Duncan, who visited Kansas in September and gave a speech at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.

Iowa had the highest graduation rate at 88 percent, while Vermont and Wisconsin were tied for second at 87 percent. Six states — Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas — were at 86 percent, while Illinois and Maine were at 84 percent.

At 83 percent were Kansas, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota.

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AlfVenison 6 months, 3 weeks ago

Of course, graduation rate is a fairly meaningless statistic, since we routinely graduate students who have poor reading comprehension, an inability to write a coherent sentence consistently, and math skills that may or may not enable them to calculate a tip on a restaurant tab. And some of these--I know this from experience--are members of the so-called National Honor Society.

KU7679 6 months, 3 weeks ago

I guess the statistic is somewhat meaningless unless we know what the graduation standards were in the other states. But, unlike Alf above, I congratulate Kansans for doing a good job educating our children. I also know quite a few HS grads, and they are, on the whole, bright and thoughtful young folks. I know lots of folks, young and old, who stumble when trying to figure out an appropriate tip, and I hope that is not the yardstick by which we will all be judged.

The future of education will probably consist of a more standardized core curriculum (we can argue whether that is good or not, but it's coming). In a few more years, graduation rates might tell us more than what they tell us now.

Amazing how some folks can be happy about a statistic and others can find reasons to beotch and moan.

average 6 months, 3 weeks ago

Ha ha. Texas rate is nowhere near 86%. You can find leaked memos from the big school districts on this... their policy is to say "went to another school" (no idea where) or "went with family back to Mexico" instead of "dropped out" every time they possibly can. Not that our stats aren't massaged likewise.