Graduation Rate Reaches All-Time High

By The Tampa Tribune
Published: November 23, 2008

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At 75.4 percent, Florida's most recent high school graduation rate reached its highest point ever, and state leaders did not hide their enthusiasm when they announced the news last week.

But how much should they celebrate?

"The basic answer is, graduation statistics are horrible," said Sherman Dorn, an education professor at the University of South Florida and an expert on school accountability. "There is currently no trustworthy measure of what proportion of students eventually graduate."

Every state counts its graduates differently, and Florida's numbers, like most states, are inflated, Dorn said. That will change by 2011, when schools must adopt a single federal formula to calculate graduation rates.

Dorn says Florida's rates likely will fall when, among other factors, the state stops including GED diplomas in its counts, Dorn said.

Adam Emerson