Confusing Attendance and Graduation Rates with Learning
“When people talk about how education's getting better, they use words like 'growth' and 'progress.' They say things like ‘ student engagement ’ and ‘ pathways to success ,’ and let's not forget, ‘ credit recovery ,’ as if to say something was ‘lost’ in need to be rediscovered. These words sound good. Sometimes they are just used to avoid talking about whether students are really learning.” By Don Allen, Ed.S., M.A.Ed. MAT When people talk about education these days, they often throw around a lot of numbers. Attendance and graduation rates are usually the things they mention. You see these numbers at meetings in school newsletters and even on signs that say a school district is doing a great job with your child. The truth is, attendance and graduation rates do not really show how much a student is learning. Many schools think that if students show up and graduate, they are doing their job. They do not really think about what students can actually do after they...