NH High School Graduation Rate

[Kat Kanning]

NH DOE reports a graduation rate of 84%.  An independant account finds it is only 74%.  A student at Keene high told us it was much lower.

http://www2.edtrust.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5A6974D-6C04-4FB1-A9FC-05938CB0744D/0/GettingHonest.pdf

[GT]

If anyone has ever attended a couple of school board meetings just about anywhere it become apparent how the "numbers are skewed" in favor of the school.

Ever notice how kids that get into trouble don't get suspended and sent home anymore. When they send them home the schools can't claim the high attendance rate. Some federal and state funding is based on attendance....surprise.

[AlanM]

NH DOE reports a graduation rate of 84%.? An independant account finds it is only 74%.? A student at Keene high told us it was much lower.

http://www2.edtrust.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5A6974D-6C04-4FB1-A9FC-05938CB0744D/0/GettingHonest.pdf

It's very simple, Kat. 84% of those who graduated actually graduated. Of those 84%, only 74% knew they had graduated. Of those 74%, only 25% could read their diploma, but only 70% of that 25% could actually spell Diploma. All the rest were, and are on Ritalin.

[Kat Kanning]

  Now I'm really confused!

[Michael Fisher]

It's very simple, Kat. 84% of those who graduated actually graduated. Of those 84%, only 74% knew they had graduated. Of those 74%, only 25% could read their diploma, but only 70% of that 25% could actually spell Diploma. All the rest were, and are on Ritalin.

As clear as mud!   

[tracysaboe]

If anyone has ever attended a couple of school board meetings just about anywhere it become apparent how the "numbers are skewed" in favor of the school.

Ever notice how kids that get into trouble don't get suspended and sent home anymore. When they send them home the schools can't claim the high attendance rate. Some federal and state funding is based on attendance....surprise.

Yeah, they spend money on 10 or more "teachers" to babysit them in "In School Suspension."

And for the big trouble makers, they cart then off to "Out of School Suspension." Which is a whole 'nother extra building that the tax-payers had to pay for to babysit them.

But they're all still in school, so the district gets all their money.

Seriously, this is how it's done in my curent residence of Sioux Falls, SD. I substituted in the district for 1 year and a half. You see alot of the underbelly as a sub.

Government apparatous rewards incompetence.


Tracy

[KBCraig]

Yeah, they spend money on 10 or more "teachers" to babysit them in "In School Suspension."

And for the big trouble makers, they cart then off to "Out of School Suspension." Which is a whole 'nother extra building that the tax-payers had to pay for to babysit them.

In Texas, we call that "Alternative School". It amounts to juvenile detention during the school day. Cops and all. Without benefit of trial or counsel (or right of appeal), students are administratively "sentenced" to Alternative School.

Texas has compulsory attendance until the end of the school year in which the student turns 18. Truancy is enforced with criminal sanctions against both student and parent.

The good news: home schools are private schools (per court ruling). And private schools aren't regulated in Texas. 

We experienced this with our oldest, who just turned 18 and is productively working towards paying his way through college. His best friend had a rough night, and decided to start punching Nate on the bus. Result: both ordered to 45 school days in Alternative School.

"No thanks!" we said. We home-schooled Nate for the last year and a half of his education, and he earned his GED with flying colors a year before (some of) his age peers saw the graduation stage. No notification or reporting to the school required. (This is something NH needs to work on.)

But they're all still in school, so the district gets all their money.

eggZACKly!

In our case, the state still got the money, but the school district didn't. And they didn't get the bonus money for another student in alternative school, to pay for more metal detectors and extra school cops.

Just FYI, Nate's friend who started throwing punches, never completed alternative school. It's designed that way: once you're in, it's designed to ensure you never complete the "sentence". Any infraction --tardy, talking in class, failing a class-- restarts the time from zero. And for every compulsory day a student attends, the district gets extra funding.

Gee. Kinda hard to figure out certain disciplinary decisions, isn't it?

Kevin

[tracysaboe]

That sounds very simular to here Lots of cops, etc. Basically a prison sentence.

PArents do have more rights regarding that sort of thing here though, then it sounds like they do in Texas.

We do have an anternative school, but that's not what it's for. It's an independent study program for really gifted, or really slow kids, so they can go through and finish early or late if they want. And it's actually a good problem. (Of course, the kids could do the same exact stuff at home, with-out the need for "teachers" to be paid $30,000 a year to babysit them while they self-teach themselves the various subjects, etc. Basically it's a mutated "Unschooling" aproach to to education, except you have to to in in the building in front of the teachers. Students who are allowed to go to the alternative school, also don't need to go if they don't want to -- i.e., they aren't disciplined for absences or tardies like they are at the regular school.)

The "prison schools" are called "out-of-school" suspension.

Tracy

[Kat Kanning]

I think NH compulsary schooling ends at 16...or at least you don't have to do all the homeschool paperwork after 16.

[AlanM]

I think NH compulsary schooling ends at 16...or at least you don't have to do all the homeschool paperwork after 16.

Yes, you can quit school at 16, with parents permission.