[AAACE-NLA] Counting dropouts and graduates: still more people leftbehind

[Michelle Carson]

Would such a regulation affect funding for adult education in your  
state? 

I'm not exactly sure how the regulation would affect funding for adult education in Kansas.  Would the increased number of students who dropout give cause for additional funding to adult education?  Or would it be more likely that the funding would go to secondary institutions to help improve them?  Whichever the case, I do believe the proposed formula would give a much better picture of the increasing numbers of potential students we are attempting to serve with the dollars we do receive.  Perhaps with the new formula, the number of adults who receive services from an Adult Education program and/or receive the GED would be properly accounted for and the credit given for reclaiming those students who were failed by the educational system.
 
Would it affect how people view the GED or an adult diploma  
awarded by a public high school?

I believe that not counting the GED achievers in the proposed formula actually is intended to give a clearer picture of how the educational system is performing (or not).   I don't think that the new formula should affect how the GED is perceived.  To me, the formula is not saying GED are not high school graduates, rather, it is making it clear that the traditional high school should not get credit for graduating a student who earns their GED through a non-traditional route and ultimately may have been served by an adult education or other literacy program.

Michelle

Michelle Carson, M.S.
Associate Director of Adult Education
Kansas Board of Regents
1000 SW Jackson, Suite 520
Topeka, KS 66612
phone:  785-368-7359
fax:        785-296-4526
e-mail:   mcarson at ksbor.org


>>> David Rosen <DJRosen at theworld.com> 4/26/2008 3:29 PM >>>
Colleagues,

Under a new federal effort to standardize how high school graduation  
rates are calculated nationwide, students who leave school and later  
graduate from adult education programs will still be considered  
dropouts. "In an effort to get a true picture of the nation's high  
school dropout crisis, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings  
announced last week that she will require all states to use a single  
federal formula to calculate graduation and dropout rates, forcing  
some states to completely revamp their data processing systems.  
Spellings did not release the specific formula she will require but  
referenced the National Governors Association's graduation rate as a  
model...."

Would such a regulation affect funding for adult education in your  
state? Would it affect how people view the GED or an adult diploma  
awarded by a public high school?

This would increase the national dropout rate, reported recently in  
the America's Promise Alliance study as 30% on average, 50%  in  
cities. If GED and adult diploma holders are counted as dropouts that  
would increase the dropout rate more.

Several years of  "No Child Left Behind"  appear to be leaving many  
more people behind.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080407/ 
NEWS03/804070336

Short form of Web Address:
http://tinyurl.com/5xk7e2 

David J. Rosen
Adult Literacy Advocate
DJRosen at theworld.com 




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