Poverty, low graduation rates share strong link

from The Indianapolis Star

Among worst-performing schools, 2 in 3 have state's poorest kids

By Andy Gammill

New graduation rates released Tuesday for individual Indiana high schools show once again the divide between affluent and poor schools, state officials and academic experts agree.

An Indianapolis Star analysis of the statewide numbers shows a strong relationship between low graduation rates and the number of students in poverty. Among the lowest-performing schools, two-thirds also had the poorest students in the state.

"Poverty is insidious; it transcends almost all aspects of living." said Tracy L. Cross, an education professor at Ball State University. "If we decided to do nothing else but attend to poverty, we'd see a higher graduation rate from high schools."

Among area schools, Zionsville and New Palestine high schools had the highest graduation rates. Less than 10 percent of students at each school receive free and reduced-cost lunches, an indicator of poverty.

The lowest graduation rates in the area were at Tech and Manual high schools, where about 75 percent of students receive free and reduced-price lunches and less than half earn a diploma in four years.

Experts say that measurement typically undercounts the number of poor students in high school, where many don't sign up because of the stigma.
Indianapolis Public Schools, which serves many poor children, had eight high schools ranked among the 30 lowest-performing schools in the state.

Those eight schools graduated 60 percent or less of the students who entered in 2002 by the end of last year. Students who transferred elsewhere were factored out of the school's rate.

"Data show students who live in poverty are not as successful in the classroom," said Mary Louise Bewley, spokeswoman for IPS.
"The families of students in Zionsville can afford to pay for tutoring, they can send their children to summer enrichment camps . . . Many of our students don't have books at their home."

Bewley and experts said that the results of high-performing schools were impressive accomplishments, but that many of those students don't have the same obstacles as those in schools in IPS, Gary and Hammond, among other urban districts.

New Palestine High School, which had a 94.2 percent graduation rate last year, attributes its success to both high community standards and stability, factors that often elude high-poverty schools.

"Many of our students are with us at least through their high school years, and many from elementary school on," Principal Jan Bergeson said. "It's far easier for us to follow them and prepare them for graduation than larger schools that have a larger mobility rate."

Some school districts have been warning parents about the new rates, which are significantly lower in many places than previous graduation rates.
The new rate tracks students statewide over four years and factors out students known to have moved elsewhere.

In November, state education officials announced that 76.5 percent of students statewide who started high school in 2002 graduated in 2006. Two schools, Medora Junior and Senior High School and New Harmony High School, had all their students graduate.

The top reason students cite when dropping out is a lack of engagement in school, but poverty is a major factor, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed said.

"There's just no question about it when we look at our scores (by) poverty and nonpoverty," she said Tuesday. "What happens is these little kids come to school, and they're already behind."

Reed said she has seen promising programs that can help keep more students in school. More flexibility for students to leave school to care for family and alternative programs that tailor learning to their needs already help in some Indiana schools, she said.

During the past century, Indiana has steadily succeeded at increasing the number of high school graduates, said Terry Spradlin, associate director of the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University.

Some estimates, he said, put the percentage of Indiana teens graduating in the 1920s around 20 percent.

"Today to report around 76 percent, that clearly demonstrates progress can be achieved," Spradlin said. "Is it fast enough? Is it adequate? Probably not."


Graduation rates
Statewide, 76.5 percent of students who entered high school on track to graduate in 2006 did so. The others dropped out, received GEDs or simply disappeared from the state's school rolls.
Indiana groups schools into several categories. Here's the median graduation rate by type of school:
• Charter/lab schools (5 statewide): 97.4 percent.
• Suburban (74): 83.5 percent.
• Rural (171): 82.6 percent.
• Town (34): 76.5 percent.
• Metro/urban (74): 72 percent.
Sources: Indiana Department of Education, Star research

Indiana's new yardstick
The state's new graduation-rate formula separately tracks students who moved, received a GED, transferred or disappeared. The previous formula tracked students differently and didn't have those categories.

Change dramatic for some schools
• Tech High School in Indianapolis went from a reported rate of 97 percent in 2004-05 to 43.9 percent in 2005-06.
• Martinsville High School in Martinsville went from 87.4 percent to 74 percent.
• Lawrence North High School in Lawrence Township in Marion County went from 91.6 percent under the old formula to 80.7 percent under the new formula.

Poll: 3 out of 4 back full-day kindergarten
Hoosiers' views on education are shifting to support full-day kindergarten and away from advocating for charter schools, according to a report to be released today by Indiana University's Center for Evaluation and Education Policy.

The poll interviewed 612 Indiana residents and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Highlights include:

74 percent of residents support full-day kindergarten, including a majority who would support a tax increase for that purpose.

47 percent support charter schools, down from 52 percent three years ago.

More findings are to be released at a State Board of Education meeting today.
-- Star report