Audit: Missouri high school graduation rates inflated

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's high school graduation rates appear inflated, because officials are not accurately tracking how many students drop out, a state audit asserted Wednesday.

The audit said the way schools and the state calculate the graduation rate is flawed, not including data on 19,000 of 75,000 students who entered ninth grade in the 2000-2001 school year.

The audit found that when students leave a school, officials often assume they transferred to another, pushing down their dropout rate, but lack documents to prove that. The dropout rate is a factor in calculating the graduation rate.

The audit said that in 2004, 77 percent of students who had started in the ninth grade graduated. But the state's reported graduation rate was nine points higher, at 86 percent.

Graduation rates for individual Missouri high schools in 2004 ranged from 45 percent to 100 percent.

McCaskill said graduation rates have taken on more importance with the federal No Child Left Behind law, which aims to have all children proficient in reading and math by 2014.

"The data that is being used to determine progress cannot be relied upon," she said.

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spokesman Jim Morris said the audit calculation is oversimplified. The state rate divides the number of graduates by that number plus the number of dropouts from that class over the years.

"Enrollment does fluctuate," Morris said Wednesday. "Comparison of graduates in grade 12 with the number of students in grade nine just in a straight line would not be accurate."

Auditors examined records at 11 schools and found many students were not properly accounted for. Auditors also found that districts have different standards, with one presuming any student absent 10 or more days is home-schooled and others classifying any student absent for eight days as a dropout.

The audit said state education officials are working on a computer system to better track students for testing purposes, which also could help determine whether students who leave their schools transfer to another or drop out. But the audit said education officials aren't planning to use it for determining graduation rates.

Morris said students all have a tracking number under the system this year, but education officials are not using it to monitor where students go when they leave a school.

"The system was not designed with that purpose in mind. It could be used for that purpose. That's a possible application down the road," he said.

The audit also recommended the agency ensure schools accurately classify students who leave, including emphasizing requirements that schools keep records to prove if a student transfers to another school.

"There needs to be a framework and guidance coming from the state," McCaskill said.

The audit also said parents should have to tell the public school district in writing when they plan to home school. The audit also questioned the state policy of counting students who obtain a GED in the graduation rate, saying that does not comply with federal law.

The department said it's acceptable because only those who complete the GED Option program, which requires students to take some classes and meet some of the same standards as other graduates, qualify toward the graduation rate.

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On the Net:

Auditor: http://www.auditor.mo.gov

Education Department: http://www.dese.mo.gov