KC School District graduation rate below 50 percent, study says
By JOE ROBERTSON
The Kansas City Star
Fewer than half of Kansas City School District students make it to graduation, according to a national study that ranked Kansas City 40th out of the nation’s 50 largest cities.

The report by America’s Promise Alliance, released today, used data from the 2003-04 school year to calculate a graduation rate of 45.7 percent for Kansas City, compared with the national average of 69.9 percent.

“It’s not the place where we want to be,” district spokeswoman Cynthia Wheeler-Linden said. “What matters is where we are going.”

Several initiatives and community collaborations have been attacking the dropout problem in recent years. There are signs that Kansas City’s graduation rate, while still the lowest in the area, may have improved since 2003-04.

According to state records that calculate graduation rates differently, Kansas City’s rate rose from 68.8 percent in 2003-04 to 75.7 percent in 2006-07, while the statewide rate edged up only slightly, from 85.5 to 85.8 percent.

Calculations vary because there is no standard means to measure graduation rates. Measures have to try to take into account students who drop out of school along the way — a number hard to track because districts can’t obtain complete records of students who transferred or moved out of state or out of the country. Alternative programs and alternative routes to diplomas also figure in.

Kansas City improved enough that the district met the state standard for graduation rates in its current annual performance report.

But enrollment figures indicate how much improvement is needed. The number of Kansas City School District students who earned enough credits to be classified as seniors in recent years tends to be some 30 percent less than the number of students entering high school as ninth-graders.

America’s Promise Alliance, founded by retired Gen. Colin Powell, is a coalition of nonprofit organizations and other groups. The alliance used data from Editorial Projects in Education Inc., which calculated a “cumulative promotion index.” It measures ratios of students who are promoted grade-to-grade to estimate the likelihood that a ninth-grader will graduate on time and receive a regular diploma.

The report reflected a recurring situation in which high-poverty, high-minority districts tend to have more difficulty getting students to graduation than their suburban counterparts.

Among the Kansas City area’s largest districts, the only other district to graduate fewer than half its students by the report’s measurement was Kansas City, Kan., with a reported rate of 48.5 percent. Like Kansas City, a large majority of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

But the Kansas state records show an even greater disparity between the report’s figures and state figures. According to state data, the Kansas City, Kan., district had a graduation rate of 79.5 percent in 2003-04.

District spokesman David Smith said Kansas City, Kan., through its First Things First reform effort, has boosted graduation rates and drawn national attention as a model of success.

“National studies have said that our work makes a difference in stemming the tide of dropouts,” Smith said.

But First Things First also has been criticized. Like Kansas City, the Kansas City, Kan., district reports average ACT college entrance test scores well below state and national averages.

The Kansas City School District has tried to install some of the same reform initiatives in its high schools, while adding several other programs. 

But the district has struggled to implement them effectively, according to a review the district commissioned from the Council of the Great City Schools in 2007.

The Council of the Great City Schools’ review mostly supported Kansas City’s programs, but said rapid changes in the district and poor staff training have prevented the district from seeing much gain.

While the district tries to establish more stability, it has seen an increase in community efforts to work with the district.

These are the kind of collaborations that Wheeler-Linden said should help.

“We’re getting community buy-in…,” she said. “People are asking, “What can we do?’ ”



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Area graduation rates
Here are graduation rates for some larger area school districts, as compiled by Editorial Projects in Education Inc. The rates, for the 2003-04 school year, formed the basis of a report released today by America’s Promise Alliance.


MISSOURI
Blue Springs 88.2
Hickman Mills 56.2
Independence 72.6
Kansas City 45.7
Lee’s Summit 91.6
Liberty 86.3
North Kansas City 90.0
Park Hill 92.6
Raytown 73.2

State average 75.0
KANSAS
Blue Valley 99.0
Kansas City, Kan. 48.5
Olathe 91.5
Shawnee Mission 81.5 

State average 74.4 

U.S. average 69.9 

Check your district
Go to www.americaspromise.org, click on the Dropout Prevention logo, then click on “Determine your local graduation rate.”