Learning from the data

Under a new, national measurement tool for graduation rates, Georgia’s numbers are shocking at first look — dropping from 81% to 67% — but they reinforce that we need to keep pushing.

The best schoolteachers use real-world events and experiences as performance-enhancing learning tools. That practice can benefit states, cities and towns, too, as Georgians absorb the eye-opening implications of a newly adjusted high school graduation rate.

The long-expected switch to a nationally consistent scoring model caused Georgia’s fouryear public high school completion rate to plunge to 67.4 percent.

The gravity of that number only becomes clear when 2011’s rate of 81 percent — derived using a different method — is considered.

No hue and cry over the fall has developed, and rightly so. The downward adjustment was fully expected; everyone familiar with the past and present metrics anticipated the rate would drop under the new measurement.

Expected or not, the old and new math calculating high school graduates is jarring. Given that the topic involves education, it’s easy and natural for any former student to equate the graduation rate with a classroom grade. It’s an unfair analogy, to be sure, but psychologically an 81 percent, a “B,” is a lot easier to collectively stomach than the “D” represented by a 67.4.

That bit of self-torment behind us, we can move on and, like classroom instructors, try to extract teachable moments from the data.

First, context is critical. Available evidence supports that Georgia has been doing a better job in recent years of seeing more students through to high school commencement exercises.

Another important fact is that we had a long way to go to start with. The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Ed- a bracing shock to those who thought we were farther along than the numbers now show us to be.

These figures point out the ongoing need to adequately fund our public schools while keeping up the push for verifiable improvements in student achievement. To do otherwise will undercut most every hardwon economic development gain secured in Georgia. That sort of subtraction will do us no good, not in a state where unemployment remains above the national average.

Education is one of the best investments we can make for the future success of our state and its citizens. Lawmakers and education leaders should keep that in mind in future deliberations over school funding, curricula and the like.

That said, there’s value in the 50 states measuring graduation rates using a common formula — a move that had been recommended by the National Governors Association. Doing so will help Georgians more accurately assess how we’re doing in comparison to other states.

That analysis is relevant, given mobility across the U.S. and world. Our students may well live, work or continue their education outside this state. Likewise, companies and workers considering relocation to Georgia now can make a more-informed assessment of our public education system.

Having a nationally comparable standard will make our successes — or failures — transparent. Given the Atlanta region, and Georgia’s, high profile globally, it’s in our best and common interest to keep building on our past improvements.

JOHN OVERMYER / NEWSART