First of all, I fail to see how graduation rates refute the basic premise of my post. Maybe they refute what you decided my basic premise was on your own.
My own research showed New York at 60% (from WSJ). Same with Philly at 60%. I can post links if you want. As far as Houston goes, I googled "how does houston calculate graduation rates" and the first page listed was this:
"A few years ago, the Houston School District was lauded as having very high graduation rates. But the so-called
“Houston Miracle” became famously mired in controversy after a state audit discovered that at some schools, more
than half the students classified as “discharged” should have been classified as dropouts.
How graduation rates were calculated for the class of 2004
Texas’s practices in defining the graduation rate are partly to blame for what expert Dan Losen of the Civil Rights
Project at Harvard University has called the “miracle of misrepresentation.” The state continues to boast an
84.6% graduation rate for the class of 2004, while independent estimates put the rate between 65 and 70%.
• Texas records 20 different graduation types, all counted as receiving regular diplomas.
• From the ninth-grade cohort, Texas subtracts students in 29 “leaver” categories, including separate categories
for students who are enrolled in GED programs, incarcerated, and participating in court-ordered alternative
programs; students who transfer or intend to transfer (without confirmation); unknown and unlisted leavers;
and students who leave under administrative withdrawal. None of these students are considered dropouts;
they are just not counted. For the purpose of calculating high school graduation rates, these students have
simply ceased to exist.
Step 1. Identify the cohort for the class of 2004: 348,039 entering ninth-grade students.
Step 2. Adjust the cohort: 348,039 students minus 60,527 leavers plus 16,601 students with data errors
equals the adjusted cohort for the class of 2004: 270,911 students (the denominator).
Step 3. Identify the graduates for the class of 2004: 270,911 minus 10,507 dropouts plus 19,826 students
staying in school plus 11,445 GED recipients equals total graduates for the class of 2004: 229,133
students (the numerator).
Step 4. Divide graduates by the adjusted cohort: 84.6% graduation rate."
So Houston calculates graduation rates differently and to their own advantage it seems.
