DPS stands at a crossroads
It’s a tale of two school districts, the first a comprehensive failure at everything it has tried in recent years, the second boasting the most impressive record of improvement and innovation in Colorado.
Except that the authors of these contrasting descriptions, which appeared in recent columns in The Denver Post, were actually referring to the same district. They were describing Denver. And since their judgments could hardly differ more radically, readers of both commentaries (which appeared on separate days) could be forgiven for scratching their heads. Who is telling the truth?
Stunningly, both sides are. The tone of each may have been overdrawn, but the specific data cited was mostly accurate. And in assessing the district’s future plans, it’s essential for us to understand why the glass is indeed half empty, but also half full.
Theresa Peña was the first to sound off in The Post. She had been school board president a decade ago when the district began its program of wholesale reform under Superintendent (now U.S. Sen.) Michael Bennet to boost dismal achievement. In a tone closer to sorrow than indignation, Peña now proclaims that effort a total bust. “We are still collectively failing our neediest students,” she wrote.
“The district also committed to encouraging innovation, allowing greater school autonomy, engaging the community to raise expectations, monitoring school progress, and operating in a more transparent manner,” she added. “We failed on all counts.”
As a result, no group or community is “better off as a result of the reforms.” Indeed, “Denver’s abysmal achievement gaps” continue to grow “even wider.”
Her somber conclusion was answered a few days later by current board president Anne Rowe and Superintendent Tom Boasberg, who naturally beg to differ. They pointed out “the number of students of color who graduate from high school every year in Denver Public Schools has nearly doubled” in the past decade while the dropout rate fell by two-thirds and many more graduates went on to college. Meanwhile, a district that “ranked last among the state’s major school districts in terms of year-on-year student progress for all students” now ranks first.
How to reconcile these clashing conclusions? First, by understanding that Denver started its reforms as one of the very worst performing districts in the state. Since then, according to Van Schoales of A+ Colorado, an education watchdog and reform
America’s high schools have a credibility problem: The country’s graduation rate is at a record high, but many students are receiving diplomas without earning them. The straightforward solution is to require all highschoolers to pass exit examinations before graduating.
A national push to boost high-school graduation rates began a decade ago. The federal government made graduation rates a benchmark of schools’ progress.
By some measures, the focus on reducing dropouts has worked. Today, 84 percent of 17-year-olds graduate from high school, up from 75 percent in 2008. But federal investigators found that California and Alabama had miscalculated their numbers. And officials in Washington, D.C. — one of the country’s leading laboratories of education reform — disclosed that one-third of graduating seniors in 2017 didn’t fulfill the requirements for a diploma, but got one anyway.
In most rich countries, students finishing secondary school take national exams. Yet in the U.S., only 12 states require students to pass tests of academic proficiency in order to graduate.
Critics say exit exams disproportionately hurt low-income students and minorities. That’s an argument for investing more in helping all students meet high standards. Policymakers should emulate states like Massachusetts, which combines graduation exams with targeted funding to assist students who fall short.
The goal of exit exams should be to ensure students are prepared for productive lives after high school — whether in college or the workforce. High schools should set different “cut lines” on exit exams to distinguish between college readiness and basic proficiency.
Revelations of graduationrate inflation shouldn’t overshadow the progress made in places like Washington, D.C. But allowing students to graduate without meeting basic standards only penalizes the ones who’ve made the grade. The best way to restore the value of a high school diploma is to insist that all students show they’ve earned it.