Education Week - September 7, 2022 - 13

Across states that provided data, Asian students were the
only group for which fewer states saw declines in graduation
rates in 2021 than in 2020. In the same time, graduation rates
have declined for Native American, Latino, and white students
in the majority of states, and for Black students in 24
states.
BLAINE FRANZEL, 17, and his mother,
Angel Franzel, live in Stuart, Fla.
After struggling during remote
learning and dropping out of public
school, Franzel is now thriving
at an alternative school where he is
learning about aviation.
Josh Ritchie for Education Week
States rethink permanence
of graduation flexibility
In the meantime, states have begun to transition from
short-term graduation waivers to more long-term restructuring
of requirements.
While 43 states waived at least some diploma requirements
for exit exams or end-of-course exams for the class of 2020-
when many assessments could not be administered because
of lockdowns and limited online testing capabilities-states
have varied in their permanent plans for assessments. In July,
for example, New Jersey passed a new law eliminating high
school exit exams as a diploma requirement. But earlier this
month, the Massachusetts education department raised the
score students need on the state exam in order to graduate
with a regular diploma, though the new rule will not take effect
until the class of 2026.
In Michigan, a coalition of business groups, teachers'
unions, school boards, and parents has called for the state
to add a 13th year of schooling to account for the number of
students who have fallen significantly behind in credits.
Washington state passed a broad array of waivers for graduation
requirements in spring 2020, and the graduation rate
that year actually rose by 2 percentage points, to 82.9 percent,
compared to 2019, continuing a steady trend. By 2020-21,
however, the graduation rate dropped nearly a half percent,
to 82.5 percent.
" We were recognizing that this educational disruption was
continuing, and continuing to have impacts, " said Randy
Spaulding, the executive director for the Washington state
board of education. " We were really, initially at least, writing
rules for one class at a time in terms of what flexibility they
would get in the requirements. ... This latest set of rule-making
phases it down to really look at the structure of our graduation
requirements and also which classes were most directly
impacted in terms of their high school requirements. "
In Washington and other states, dropout-recovery advocates
say the move to more mastery-based, rather than
seat-time- based credit, has proved to be the most helpful
to students' long-term academic recovery. Arizona districts
are piloting portfolios and other formats for assessing and
providing credit, and Ohio passed a law, effective this January,
allowing students to get credit for multiple content areas
from the same course.
However, federal data suggest that high school grade inflation
has accelerated during the pandemic, and groups like
the Center for American Progress raised concerns that high
school diploma requirements will fall increasingly out of
alignment with college admission requirements.
" I think that COVID has really opened up a lot of windows
of opportunity because now we know that we can actually
teach our kids in a variety of different ways. It doesn't have
to be [that] they have to be in their seat every single day in
order for them to graduate, " said Martinez-McGraw of the
National Center for School Engagement.
Washington state previously required students to both
complete an overall number of credits and to pass a set of
core courses. Now, the state has updated requirements so
that districts must provide more guidance and help students
create postsecondary plans, but their diploma requirements
can take into account more subject-matter mastery and focus
on individual students' plans. For example, a student who
failed freshman English during the pandemic but who has
since passed a higher-level English course could be given
credit for both. And a student could prioritize retaking a
failed course that is crucial for their planned course of study
in college.
" If I have to retake my math course, because math is really
important to what I need to do, I may not meet my 24 [total]
credits because I'm repeating a course and I don't get credit
for it twice. But maybe it's more important for my college admission
to have a third or fourth math and one less science, "
Spaulding said. " Those are the kinds of decisions students
might have had to make.
" We've tried to be really intentional, so that we're getting
students the best chance to meet the requirements, " he conNAKAYA
DOMINA dropped out
of her public high school in
Las Vegas in 2019 but managed
to graduate this year with the help
of a " graduation advocate " and
a dropout recovery program.
About this
project
CLASS OF 2021: DIGGING OUT
FROM UNDER COVID
COVID-19 dealt a harder blow to members of
GERILYN RODRIGUEZ, 18, struggled with
remote learning during the pandemic
and dropped out of high school.
the class of 2021 than it did to their
predecessors. The number of states with falling
graduation rates doubled in the second year of
the pandemic, amid another year of
quarantines and outbreaks, trauma, and a
simmering mental health crisis among
teenagers. The declines in graduation rates
come after years of steady progress in the
percentages of students who finish high school
on time.
To reengage the students who fell through
the cracks during the pandemic, schools and
dropout-recovery providers are having to work
harder, going door to door to find missing
students and offer them something more than
remote course work to get them back on track.
This package of stories looks at the
pandemic's ongoing impact on graduation
rates, the students who are struggling to regain
their academic footing, and the programs that
are working to help them.
THIS ISSUE:
Cascade of Factors Drive Down
Graduation Rates
'Graduation Counselors' Go
Door-to Door to Find Missing Students
Dropouts Now Face a Steeper Climb
To Earn a Diploma Post-Pandemic
To read all stories, go to CLASS OF 2021: DIGGING
OUT FROM UNDER COVID > edweek.org
GERILYN RODRIGUEZ: Teenager
Balances Family Care, Work,
And Credit Recovery
On a Path to Graduation
A " graduation advocate " persuaded her
to enroll in Miami-Dade Acceleration
Academies in Miami, Fla.
ONLINE PROFILES:
Find out how three teenagers who fell off track
in the thick of the pandemic found their way
back on a path to high school graduation.
BLAINE FRANZEL: Anxiety and Isolation
Kept Him Out of School. How an
Alternative Program Helped
NAKAYA DOMINA: What It Took
To Get This Teenager Back
On Track to Graduate
EDUCATION WEEK | Septebmer 7, 2022 | www.edweek.org | 13
Bridget Bennett for Education Week
Josh Ritchie for Education Week
http://www.edweek.org http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - September 7, 2022

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