Last week the Colorado Department of Education released spring’s graduation and drop out numbers. The state saw a slight increase in graduation rates, and for the eighth straight year a decrease in dropout rates. You can read our coverage here, here, and here.
Denver Public Schools was among the school districts who celebrated an uptick. Superintendent Tom Boasberg had this to say:
It’s an enormous positive change for our community to have more students finishing high school, ready to go on to college and career. In today’s economy, it’s actually essential.
But one of Boasberg’s bosses, school board member Barbara O’Brien, cautioned:
A lot of people have worked very hard to increase graduation rates and lower dropout rates. But we have to keep the eye on the prize—students who can do college or career level work without remediation after high school.
That brings us to our question of the week: How complete a picture do you think graduation rates give us about what is happening in schools?
Each week, we ask readers a question about a timely or timeless question about their experiences in education. Readers who want to share their opinions should leave a response in the comment section below, tweet us @ChalkbeatCO, send an email, or leave a comment on our Facebook wall. Every Friday we round up the responses. Here’s last week’s.