Dropping the Ball on Dropouts

The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has measured various types of high school graduation, completion, and dropout rates for decades. In 2006, NCES was directed by senior managers in the Education Department to reduce use of its standard graduation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Educational horizons 2009-04, Vol.87 (3), p.169-181
Main Author: Phelps, Richard P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Censuses
College Preparation
College Students
Dropout Rate
Dropouts
Education
Educational attainment
Educational Policy
Foreign Countries
Graduation Rate
Graduations
High school equivalency programs
High School Freshmen
High School Students
High schools
Higher education
Postsecondary Education
Public Policy
School dropouts
Semantics
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Summary:The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has measured various types of high school graduation, completion, and dropout rates for decades. In 2006, NCES was directed by senior managers in the Education Department to reduce use of its standard graduation and completion rate measures and instead promote the previously obscure "averaged freshman graduation rate" (AFGR). The AFGR is an "on time" completion measure. In this article, the author discusses the origins of the current preference for an "on-time" graduation rate and the widespread acceptance of the AFGR by policymakers despite its abundant flaws which raises some troubling questions. For example, does exaggerating a problem through semantic distortion help to solve the problem, or does it misdirect attention, misplace priorities, and obfuscate public policy? Further, should education policies be based on the work of those who attract the most publicity or those with the greatest expertise? The author argues two most critical threats to the quality of education in the United States that stand out for their neglect from the press and policymakers. First, much high-quality information and expertise on education policy topics are never seen or heard by policymakers, while too much poor-quality and biased misinformation is. Second, American students arguably do not have to work as hard as students in many other countries, and current public policies in effect support that lack of effort. (Contains 2 figures and 9 notes.)
ISSN:0013-175X
2162-3163