State Corrects Mistakes, Schools Fare Better
The Springfield City School District has learned that the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) has updated its Local Report Card due to calculation errors. The data set that ODE used to calculate Springfield High's 2016 graduation rate was incomplete, and thus the report card under-reported graduates from Springfield High.
The four-year graduation rate has been corrected from 74.2% to 84.9%, and the five-year graduation rate has been corrected form 88.9% to 90.1%.
Because of these corrected numbers, the report card will also show the letter grades earned by SHS for the four-year graduation rate at a "C" (instead of an F) and for SHS five-year graduation rate, the letter grade will be a "B" (instead of a C). The District wide graduation rate will also be restated as a D, instead of an F.
Graduation rates are complex and more challenging to report accurately in high mobility urban districts and large districts.
For example, each student who enrolls in a high school “class” or cohort must be accounted for at graduation time, even if the student has moved out of town, out of state, or shifted to a new school. If the student’s new school does not report that the student has registered, that student would be considered a non-graduate, or drop-out, at the school where he or she started.
"We are pleased that the Ohio Department of Education followed up on this issue and corrected our data, and we are pleased to see the numbers better reflect the reality of SHS graduation rates,” said Dr. Robert Hill, Superintendent. “However, we caution readers to understand that the graduation rate calculations are complex. Due to the high rate of transiency, graduation rates are typically under-reported for urban districts like Springfield. During the four years associated with any graduation cohort, many of our students move out of District. Without confirmation of enrollment in a new school, the withdrawn student counts against our graduation rate."
Posted November 5, 2017