Dive Brief:
- Tennessee's education department conducted the first audit of high school graduates’ qualifications as part of an investigation into why so many students have trouble in college, finding one-third got their diplomas without meeting state requirements.
- NPR reports students most commonly lacked two required foreign language credits or social studies courses that met state policy requirements even though the vast majority of students had the right number of credits to graduate.
- Almost 30% of Tennessee high schools granted diplomas to students in the class of 2015 where more than half of them didn’t meet state requirements, but state officials say it was most likely due to a lack of teachers and counselors, as well as misunderstandings about requirements, rather than active wrongdoing.
Dive Insight:
One of the Obama administration’s major goals was increasing the high school graduation rate nationwide. Many states and districts claimed record high graduation rates, celebrating their success with a growing proportion of their student bodies. But media investigations and state analyses have come to sobering conclusions about their validity.
In Los Angeles Unified School District, a record high graduation rate last year has been called into question because of an arguably lenient credit recovery system. In Alabama, the new state superintendent recently admitted high schools have misstated student records and the state education department has failed in its oversight duties. And in Connecticut, a judge has ordered state officials to create a new exit exam for graduates to ensure they are not being granted diplomas without mastering the skills to merit them.
