District’s grad rate needs a closer look

Overall Newport-Mesa Unified School District is doing a top-notch job

of getting students through the system in 12 years, even with the

new, more stringent graduation requirements.

According to the California Department of Education, the district

graduated 93.6% of seniors last year.

Two schools had 100% graduation rates.

That’s great. But it’s not the whole picture here. The district’s

two alternative education high schools did not have such impressive

graduation rates on the 2003 Adequate Yearly Progress Phase II

reports, which chronicles the graduation success rate for the class

of 2002.

At Monte Vista Alternative only 60.3% of seniors graduated. That’s

not a great number, and is sadly close to neighboring district’s

alternative education graduation numbers.

However, the real worry is at Back Bay Continuation. There the

percentage of seniors moving on dropped to an appalling 16.7%.

Newport-Mesa officials attributed the low rates to the “unique

structure” of the school, but a drop from 76.9% the year before still

raises a red flag.

The report uses a formula that takes into account the number of

dropouts each year, the number of students graduating who began as

freshman together and, while transfers don’t hurt a school’s

standing, a student leaving without a forwarding school transcript

does.

Regardless of the possible loopholes in the formula, or the

flexible structure at Back Bay, according to the report 10 students

in the class of 2002 dropped out and two graduated. Any way you cut

it, that’s not good. That five dropped out in the 1998-99 school

year, plus five more in the 1999-00 school year, does not make it any

better. The numbers indicate that the program is not engaging

students.

The other district claim -- that students often enter the school

as seniors but have too few credits to graduate -- may explain

numbers but does not diminish concern. We cannot let these students

fall behind and through the cracks.

This is without a sentiment the school district and its educators

share. But it something they and the community must be vigilant

about.