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The last days of school loom, and with them comes one version of what might be termed an annual report card on the state of public education in New Mexico. That would be the state Public Education Department’s statistics for high school graduation rates, released last week.
In recent history, these statistics have been depressing, and the latest numbers are no exception. Due to some tightening in the way the rates are calculated — mainly so that New Mexico’s rates can be compared accurately with rates in other states and nationwide — the overall graduation rate statewide has dropped from a not-very-good 67 percent in 2010 to an even-worse 63 percent for the graduating class of 2011, the most recent covered in the new PED report.
Santa Fe’s graduation rates are worse yet — the completion rate for students in the city’s high schools, including charter schools, was 56.5 percent. That means almost half the students who enrolled as freshmen in what was to be the senior class of 2011 didn’t receive a diploma.
That’s an astounding figure, and one that doesn’t bode well for the city’s long-term economic future. Everything you read about economic development these days seems to indicate that a highly educated work force will be key to future growth. Young Santa Feans, if the graduation rate is any indicator, are not likely to measure up.
That said, there was some good news — or more accurately, some slightly less bad news — in the latest Santa Fe numbers.
It turns out that our graduation rates, dismal though they may be, are actually up — and by more than three full percentage points.
Moreover, the graduation rate for Hispanic students, usually below the city’s already abysmal overall rate, is up strongly, increasing from 49.5 percent to 54.3 percent at Capital High and from 61.1 to 65.6 percent at Santa Fe High.
English-language learners, another group that typically posts some of the lowest graduation rates, improved spectacularly, from 52.2 percent to 59 percent.
School officials say they’ve made an extra effort to improve the rates for these two groups. Apparently whatever they’re doing is working, and we hope this year’s success will encourage the district to redouble its efforts among these students.
But a redoubled effort is needed across the board if Santa Fe is going to develop the kind of quality public school system that its aggressive new school board majority, now searching for a new superintendent, envisions. A brief comparison with Albuquerque shows how far we still have to go: The graduation rates for the Duke City’s top four public high schools range from 79.4 to 85.6 percent. Roughly translated, that means that eight out of every 10 freshman in those three schools receives a diploma at the end of four years.
Santa Fe should aim at least that high.
