According to Lawrence Mishel, The new conventional wisdom — that the dropout rate is rising—can’t be squared with the simple economic reality. Mishel is president of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI),
The Center on Education Policy (CEP) will host a debate about high school completion and dropping out at the National Press Club Ballroom, 13th Floor, Thursday, April 27, 2006, 10A to 12PM.
Mishel will present the new findings of his study on dropouts .
Jay P. Greene, endowed chair and head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and a Manhattan Institute senior fellow will comment on the findings. Among other results from Greene’s research, he describes females having higher graduation (72 percent) rates than males (65).
Jack Jennings, president and CEO of CEP, will moderate.
This should be an interesting discussion. Let us know if you hear them. Maybe you can blog live from the debate with your Tablet PC!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Ballroom
National Press Club, 13th Floor
529 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20045
This is interesting. Greene found that up to 89 percent of students graduate from the top 100 largest school districts and the lowest districts are also among the largest districts. Among the nation’s 100 largest public school districts (by total enrollment size), the highest graduation rate was in Davis, Utah (89 percent), followed by the Ysleta Independent School District in Texas (84 percent). These data illustrate that something besides district size is working to distinguish between the highest and lowest school district graduation rates. What do you think accounts for these differences?