Former Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley boasted during his race for the governor?s office that high school graduation rates rose under his tenure. They did, according to state figures, rising 11 points to nearly 61 percent. Other studies dispute the figure, including a report from the respected journal Education Week this summer showing only 38.5 percent of the city?s high school students graduated in four years in 2003.
Putting aside the dispute between the city and the Education Week report, how did the city raise graduation rates over the past seven years?
Results of High School Assessment tests in biology, algebra and government, while still very poor, show marked improvement from 2002 to 2006, the dates available for review. That is great news and indicates more students learn required curriculum.
But accusations that some children may be skipped a grade to boost graduation rates, as in the case of Wayne Dorsey Jr., demand explanation.
Dorsey, a basketball standout now a senior at Towson Catholic, cannot play this year because he has been a senior twice. Eligibility rules prohibit him from playing the same year twice.
His father, Wayne Dorsey Sr., told The Examiner, “They move kids forward that they think can make it to boost graduation rates.”
The school system is doing nothing to dispel that explanation.
In response to a request for how many students graduated high school each year in less than four years starting in 2000, the school system replied with the number of students who graduated at age 17 or younger for the past two years: 87 in 2004-05, and 70 in 2005-06.
That is not an answer. Plenty of students who are 18 could have graduated in less than four years, depending on how old they were upon entering ninth grade. Dorsey Jr., for example, is 18.
Vanessa Pyatt, spokeswoman for the Baltimore City Public School System, wrote, “You should also know that your interpretation of your request would necessitate the district?s review of at least 30,000 student records from dozens of high schools to generate a report. MPIA (Maryland Public Information Act) does not require the district to do that.”
But supposedly the district had to analyze all the records for students in the K-12 system to find the answer it supplied, so what gives?
If not for Dorsey?s athletic skills, his situation would have remained shrouded. That begs the question of how many students are slated to graduate in three years or before they are ready.
If we are to be sure students? education is not being sacrificed to improve statistics, the Baltimore City Public School System must let the public know. Otherwise, it leaves open the perception it has something to hide.
