How Important are High School Graduation Rates?

Education in the United States drew a step nearer its goal for its promising students; the school system achieved a record-breaking 83% of students graduating high school. More students can witness the sky covered in graduation caps and enter their next phase in their life. Political figures like Barack Obama acknowledged this jaw-dropping percentage and congratulated the people of United States for their hard work and dedication. America shed its eyes on the amount of progress it has made over the past years, and how more work can be done. However, there has been rumors that the statistics are misleading. The doubting lead the country to wonder about the importance of the numbers that give the fellow youth reassurance.

There has been many measurements put in action to ensure that more students can graduate. For example the Every Student Succeeds Act, signed by Barack Obama in 2015, was implemented to prepare all students throughout their educational career and beyond. According to the U.S. Department of Education, this movement replaced the outdated Secondary Education Act to make opprotunity available to all students.

Another campaign was set in action, called GradNation. According to gradnation.org, this ambitious campaign works everyday to set a foot more closer to their goal; to “increase the nation’s high school graduation rate to 90% for the class of 2020”. These movement conducted by powerful figures are a small glimpse of the hard work dedicated for high school graduates of the US.

Although there are actions implemented that want to see all high school students graduate, there is a flipside. According to Governing: The States and Localities, the graduation rates by state differ greatly by race, with African-American students graduating at a rate of 69%, Hispanic students at 73%, and Caucasian students at 86%. These numbers strikes concern around the country, making one wonder about their own race and how it could affect their chance at graduating. Numbers do not define anyone’s future, but the numbers seem to do so.

According to The College Solution, collecting data on graduation rates is usually inaccurate because of the way it is tracked by the federal government. Some students who transferred to different high schools are not included in the calculations. According to nprED, life decisions and its consequences, such as pregnancy, causes students to move in and out of schools, rattling the accuracy of high school graduation rates.

Freshman Chrislyn Tseng said, “I think graduation rates are going up because people are starting to realize what colleges really need, what society needs, so they’re trying to work harder to live up to those expectations.”

There are many campaigns and who want these students to graduate. However, the federal system overlooks many students based on their process of going in and out of the school system, whether or not the individual is a minority, and so many more miscalculations. In order to have an accurate rate future graduates can believe, more precautions must be taken. More accurate data must be put forth to the media. The trust between the school system and the students must be enforced. In order for the US to have successful individuals in the next generation, understandable and reassuring rates must be implemented to give the students guidance toward their promising future.