Mississippi officials continue to boast about the state’s rising graduation rate: “Our educational system, though far from perfect, is clearly better than it has ever been before. For the first time in Mississippi’s history, more than 90 percent of our third graders have passed their reading exam, and our high school graduation rate has risen above 80 percent,” Gov. Phil Bryant said in his recent State of the State address.
And Carey Wright, the state superintendent of education, issued a news release this week lauding being named one of the five most improved states by Education Week magazine.
“This boost in performance between 2017 and 2018 is directly related to increased preschool enrollment and graduation rates,” Wright said. “This achievement could not have been possible without the hard work and commitment of students, teachers, leaders and parents in every school district across the state.”
And, she could have added, the help of lower standards. That’s the real story behind much of the increase.
Before 2014 students had to pass four subject-area tests before graduating, and the graduation rate was 74.5 percent. The state dropped that requirement and allowed for several alternatives, and the rate has risen to 82.3 percent. Yet 19 percent of last year’s graduates failed to pass at least one of the tests.
Although those 5,432 students have diplomas they previously would not have, they are not any more prepared for jobs or college. Ask anyone responsible for hiring entry-level jobs or teaching a freshman-level college class if the quality of students they get from high schools has increased or decreased over the past generation. To a man they will say it has fallen.
That’s the real standard of the success of our public school system, not inflated statistics.
— Charlie Smith
