Public Education and PR

One of the classes I took last semester was Values and Ethics Management. We studied ethical issues in businesses and developed our own values and ethics plan for a company as our final project.  Even if I hadn’t studied ethical dilemmas for 15 weeks I would still question the ethics of schools reporting two different graduation rates.

Apparently some schools are reporting one set of numbers to Washington and then reporting other numbers back home. This excerpt from the New York Times highlights the situation:

“California, for example, sends to Washington an official graduation rate of 83 percent but reports an estimated 67 percent on a state Web site. Delaware reported 84 percent to the federal government but publicized four lower rates at home.”

What’s especially interesting is that school administrators know the “official” rates are inaccurate. Hank Bounds, the superintendent for Jackson Public Schools in Mississippi, stated the graduation rate was 56 percent. However, the official statistic reported the graduation rate at 81 percent. A principal at Murrah High School in Mississippi, Roy Brookshire, stated in the New York Times article that he didn’t know how the graduation rate for his school was 99 percent when typically half the students drop out of the school.

How can school officials accept this discrepancy?

Developing and requiring states to use one formula could solve the reporting problems. In 2005, one formula was developed; but, states weren’t required to use it and began dropping out of the program within the first year of its creation.

Enforcing a standardized formula may dramatically reduce reported graduation rates, but it may also benefit schools. By not giving the schools a chance to play with the numbers, schools with low rates may receive the help they need. Perhaps programs or solutions would be developed to aid those schools reporting low graduation numbers.

As the graduation rates are currently being reported, there doesn’t appear to be trouble – graduation rates of 90 percent and higher are being reported to Washington. By reporting two different sets of numbers schools are only hurting themselves; after all, if we don’t know there is a problem, how can we fix it?