Lessons in the crisis

It’s no small thing that graduation rates in New York as a whole and parts of the Capital Region in particular appear to have been rising even as schools and students have been challenged by a global pandemic.

While the trends are encouraging, schools still have their homework cut out for them to figure out what worked and what didn’t — and to make sure that students are getting a solid education and not merely an easier road to a diploma, as some fear.

It’s heartening, at least at first blush, that some districts saw not just a rise in their graduation rate but a significant one. Albany, for instance, shot from a 68 percent graduation rate in the 201819 school year to 82 percent in 2020-21. Watervliet went from 78 percent to 90 percent, Schenectady from 70 percent to 80 percent. Some slipped a bit, like Albany Leadership Charter, Green Tech High, and even the normally high-performing Bethlehem and Shenendehowa.

Beneath the overall rates are some other noteworthy trends. As the Times Union’s Rachel Silberstein reports, graduation rates among English language learners in Albany soared from just 12 percent in 2016 to 75 percent in 2021. Graduation rates in the same district also rose among Black students, low-income students and students with disabilities, narrowing gaps that have persisted for years.

Turbulent though it was in many ways, the pandemic may have been a factor in the gains: Superintendent Kaweeda Adams said that having many students learning remotely allowed Albany to bring some in for more individualized attention in small groups.

That may be a strategy Albany and other districts can continue to keep graduation rates moving in the right direction. It takes teachers, time and money, of course, but Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to finally fully fund Foundation Aid that was designed to boost high-needs districts could make it possible to afford this sort of more intensive teaching.

It’s also worth noting that, statewide and in this region, rural districts’ graduation rates tended to decline, including Berne-Knox-Westerlo, RavenaCoeymans-Selkirk, Hoosic Valley and Hoosick Falls. One apparent reason was a lack of broadband access for students, making remote learning a logistical challenge. The need for state and federal government to ramp up their plans to invest billions more to achieve universal broadband across New York and the nation is that much more apparent.

And the concerns of The Education Trust-New York over scaled-back graduation requirements should not be ignored. During the pandemic, some districts canceled Regents exams, which likely helped boost graduation rates. At least four of the exams are normally required for graduation, but students have been exempted in the pandemic provided they showed proficiency in the related courses. Have the relaxed standards allowed students to graduate despite being unprepared to enter college or the workforce? Or have they given students and schools more flexibility to attain a strong education without the need to prove it in a highstakes test?

Add those questions to the broader debate over test mandates, graduation requirements, and how we educate students. But if this extraordinary crisis has shown new ways to help more of them achieve a good education, some good will have come of it after all.