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5 responses to “Chart of the Day: University Graduation Rates”

1. 

   billsblots

   May 19, 2014

   Graduation rates at the University of Michigan, universally accepted as the prestigious public university in the state, were recently cited during a controversial freshman-admissions case. I don’t recall the rate exactly, possibly 88%, graduation rate and their retention rate of freshman through completion of graduation is substantially higher than the other state universities, in fact a remarkably high rate. This was closely tied to the high quality of students admitted to the freshman classes.

   An African-American high school girl from Detroit was recently denied admission to UM and made a big public deal of it. She had good credentials and in fact was admitted to Michigan State, Iowa, and Howard, carrying a 3.5 GPA and ACT 23. Unfortunately for her, the average scores at Michigan are 3.85 GPA (based on a 4.0 scale) and ACT 28 (from my memory). Her case was made the cause celeb by a highly activist, though not always rational, group called “By Any Means”, who resurrected the theme of racism in admissions, which has never been far from the surface at University of Michigan for the last several decades. In fact, the taxpayers of Michigan passed a state constitutional amendment to prevent state universities in considering race as a criteria in admissions ( that’s a bit of simplification of the law on my part ). Prior to that Michigan had been widely known as giving points and preferential treatment to applicants of some races over the others. White kids who had done nothing but excel to the highest standards were being denied admission to the state’s most prestigious school because of their skin color.

   So here’s the kicker. In the ten or so years since the voters of Michigan prevented UM from practicing their blatantly race-based admissions policy, the percentage of African American students admitted has been cut in half. HOWEVER, the number of African American graduates has remained the same !

   That is, the success rate of African Americans now is the same as Whites, Indians, etc., because the quality of students admitted has been raised. Additionally, more qualified Indian, Hispanic, and White students are admitted now because Michigan stopped reserving a portion of their freshman classes to unqualified students. So there is higher efficiency and better use of the very expensive academic resources at the University of Michigan.

   Michigan used to divert resources to try and bring the many less qualified students up to their standards that most of the freshman class was already performing. They don’t have to do that anymore. What techniques would you propose to ensure higher graduation rates of students already accepted at those “lower income” Virginia Universities? Would graduate schools and employers consider the education and qualifications equal to those of UVA or others?

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2. 

   larryg

   May 19, 2014

   for the record, I am opposed to lowering standards because of race or ethnicity.

   It’s not only unfair to some, it’s a disservice to those it seeks to help because it sends a message that you don’t have to meet standards to be admitted or hired.

   the last thing we need is folks who are unqualified – hired.

   having said that – we have a k-12 system that penalizes and punishes kids who are in economically disadvantageous circumstances with parents who themselves lack a decent education and we advance these kids anyhow even when they do not have minimum core academic skills.

   we have neighborhood schools and the better neighborhoods get the better teachers and the lower neighborhoods get the less qualified teachers.

   see this:

   Funding Disparities
   There are large disparities in the amount of funding that schools receive which create differences in educational opportunity. The funding disparities can be broken down into three main areas:

   1. Interstate disparity – School finance inequities among different states
   [see link for full narrative]

   2. Intrastate disparity – School finance inequities within a particular state

   There are large differences in funding among school districts within the same state.
   see link for rest

   The federal government established a standardized measure, called the “equity factor” as part of Title I, Part A of the No Child Left Behind Act that measures school finance equity among districts in a state. Click here for a detailed graph that shows how states rank in school finance equity based on the federal standard.

   3. Intradistrict disparity – School finance inequities among schools within the same district

   Even within a single school district, the amount of funding that individual schools receive can differ significantly. For small school districts this is not usually an issue, but in large school districts that operate many schools, intradistrict disparities can be significant. Until recently, resource allocation at the individual school level has been largely ignored, partly due to a lack of transparency and understanding of the budget process at the local level. Recent research suggests that resources are not evenly distributed among schools in a school district and that some schools, often those that serve students with greater needs, receive less resources.

   see link for rest

   http://febp.newamerica.net/background-analysis/school-finance

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   1. 

      TMT

      May 20, 2014

      An earlier post herein (a number of years ago) showed 49 localities in Virginia cut their local tax support for their public schools after Mark Warner and the GA raised taxes and increased state money for schools. So much for intrastate disparity. The post was by Chris Braunlich.

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      1. 

         larryg

         May 20, 2014

         TMT – that is patently false.

         time to call you on it.

         The state REQUIRES a local match for the SOQs.

         each locality, in addition to that local require match can choose to spend more – on totally discretionary items that may or may not have anything to do with core academics.

         THe LCI determines what the locality’s share is on the required match.

         people all over Va have bitched and complained about it rural, suburban and urban – as being unfair to them but the composite index takes into account both income and property values and not one of the critics has ever come up with a better alternative.. they just oppose the one they disagree with.

         The money the state provides for education – does not belong to the localities – it’s collected by the state for the state to decide how to allocate – the same way they allocate money for courts, police, etc – it’s NOT a per-capita allocation in part because the law REQUIRES that each child in Va receive an equal allocation of educational resources – regardless of where they live. This is in the Virginia Constitution.

         What folks like TMT are essentially claiming is that all the taxes income and sales that the state collects – MUST be allocated back in exact proportion to where it came from.

         it does not work that way – not only not in Va but not in any other state – no matter whether it is Home Rule or Dillon Rule.

         I’m am favor of discussing the various aspects and relative merits of these things but I am opposed to them being represented falsely.

         let’s be honest about the role of the state in collecting taxes and re-allocating them.

         you may not like it or agree but please represent it in an unbiased way that reflects the reality.

         The state is responsible for deciding how to best provide equitable resources to kids. They have that responsibility and authority.

         Every state in the Union collects sales and/or income taxes to redistribute equitably for education.

         If you think the current system is unfair – then propose a more fair system.

         but don’t start out saying the money is yours and not the states because that is just ignoring reality.

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3. 

   larryg

   May 19, 2014

   if you want to increase graduation rates – you have to start in k-12.

   Barely 20% our of high school kids meet the NAEP standard for “advanced” proficiency.

   you can get into UVA – but can you get a degree in a technology or business field where you are going to find work ?

   In this country, we seek “soft” diplomas and “soft” degrees and we’re getting our clocks cleaned by seriously better educated kids from overseas.

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