Education Week - February 13, 2019 - 4

NEWS IN BRIEF
High School Graduation Rate
Reaches Another All-Time High

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

The U.S. high school graduation rate has risen for
yet another year, to a new all-time high. But even
as some celebrated the steady gains, others worried
that the pace of improvement is slowing and that the
numbers tell a false story.
Figures released last month by the U.S. Department of Education show that 84.6 percent of the
students in the class of 2016-17 earned diplomas in
four years. That's a half-point better than in 2015-16,
when the graduation rate was 84.1 percent.
Leaders of GradNation, a campaign to raise high
school completion rates, rang an alarm bell, warning
that it's the first time since 2011 that the graduation rate hasn't shown year-to-year improvements
of almost a full percentage point.
Also, questions persist about what is fueling the
steady rise. While many schools have focused energy
on better supporting students so they can finish high
school, studies and anecdotes suggest that some may
have edged into dubious tactics-such as creating diploma mills with quick, online catch-up courses-in
order to look good when annual accountability reports come out.
-CATHERINE GEWERTZ

Conservative Network to Launch Group
Promoting Initiatives for K-12
Officials with the powerful political network led by
conservative billionaire Charles Koch say they are
promoting a state-level education strategy that they
hope educators and teachers' unions will support.
The Koch network was expected to launch a new
group this month that will focus on 15 million K-12
students in five unnamed states. No details on the policy priorities were offered, but officials said the initiative will focus on curriculum, technology, and uniting a
broad coalition that will include outreach to teachers.
The announcement was made during a private
retreat for wealthy donors who have committed to
giving at least $100,000 annually to the sprawling
Koch network of political, policy, educational, and
philanthropic organizations.
The Koch network said school choice will likely be
one of a dozen or more priorities of the new initiative
but said it's too early to discuss its comprehensive
policy agenda.
Some teachers in recent years have been vocal
about rejecting the money and influence of billionaire philanthropists in the education system, especially when it comes to steering public money toward
private and charter schools.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS

Making His Case
In his State of the
Union address,
President Donald
Trump urged members
of Congress to "pass
school choice for
America's children" as
a way to support
working parents. His
Feb. 5 speech also
included a pitch for
paid family leave. But
the president offered
no details on either,
and past proposals
have failed to gain
traction in Congress.

Oklahoma Lawmakers Ramp Up Security
At Capitol After Teacher Protests

The Minnesota court of appeals has again rejected a lawsuit alleging that teacher tenure and
seniority rights in public schools saddle students of
color with ineffective teachers and therefore violate
those students' right to an adequate education.
The state supreme court last year told the appeals court to reconsider its 2017 dismissal of the
suit by four parents in light of a fresh high-court
ruling in a desegregation lawsuit that expanded
the ability of courts to intervene if students are deprived of their right to an adequate education.
But a three-judge panel of the appellate court
stood by the earlier decision that the tenure lawsuit
should be dismissed. The court concluded that even
in light of the supreme court's ruling, the lawsuit
still failed to establish that tenure and senioritybased layoff protections for teachers violate students' constitutional rights.
-AP

Leaders in the Oklahoma House ramped up security by erecting guard stations in hallways, banning public access to stairwells, and hiring an expolice officer licensed to carry a gun less than one
year after thousands of teachers' staged peaceful
protests in the Oklahoma Capitol to demand more
education funding.
The increase in security was imposed by majority Republicans as a new session of the legislature
opened last week. House Speaker Charles McCall denied the measures were prompted by the two-week
teacher walkout, which was peaceful and didn't result in any arrests. He said that limiting public access
to the stairwells would allow members to more easily
access the chamber and that the guard stations outside the offices of the top two House leaders were to
provide information to visitors.
But the No. 2 House leader, Rep. Harold Wright,

Report Roundup

HOW BIG IS YOUR CLASS?
Teacher-student ratios shrank in a majority of states from 2012-13 to 2016-17,
according to an Education Week analysis of new federal data from the updated
Digest of Education Statistics. The reasons for changes may vary, as public school
student populations expanded in some states while others coped with fewer
teachers or smaller budgets.

● Up from 2012-13
● Down from 2012-13
● No Change
SOURCES: National Center for Education Statistics; Education Week

4 | EDUCATION WEEK | February 13, 2019 | www.edweek.org

Minnesota Court Again Rejects
Challenge to Teacher Tenure

www.edweek.org/go/rr

HIGH SCHOOLS

SCIENCE EDUCATION

"Dual Enrollment: Participation and
Characteristics"

"Subtle Linguistic Cues Increase Girls'
Engagement in Science"

More than a third of all high school students take college-credit courses while still
in high school, a new federal report shows-
but students are much more likely to take
dual-credit courses if they're white or Asian
or have college-educated parents.
Data released last week by the U.S. Department of Education show 42 percent of
students whose parents have bachelor's degrees take dual-credit courses, versus 34 percent of all students and 26 percent of those
whose parents didn't complete high school.
Likewise, 38 percent of white and Asian
students took such courses, compared with
30 percent of Hispanic students, 27 percent
of African-American students, and 30 percent of students of other races.

Girls show stronger persistence in science
tasks when they are asked to "do science"
rather than "be scientists," finds a new study
in the journal Psychological Science.
Across four experiments with students
ages 4 to 9, researchers introduced a game
about the scientific method by either asking
students to "do science" or "be scientists."
Girls in the first group continued the game
longer on average than girls asked to be scientists. Boys who were younger than 5 also
preferred the action-related language, while
older boys preferred the identity-related
language. The findings suggest small differences in language can encourage students
who feel threatened by negative stereotypes
about performance of people like them.

-CATHERINE GEWERTZ

-SARAH D. SPARKS
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Education Week - February 13, 2019

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