Teacher Sounds the Alarm on Graduation Gap

The Takeaway | May 19, 2017

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.

The end of the school year should be one of celebration and accomplishment. Nationwide graduation rates are at an all time high — in 2015, the high school graduation rate was 83 percent — but what that statistic doesn't show is the gap between graduation rates and proficiency.

Proficiency refers to a student's skill level or mastery of knowledge, and there is no national standard that evaluates what schools should teach and what students should learn. There are drawbacks to national academic standards, but without them the reality is students graduate at vastly different levels of preparedness.

Rob Barnett is a public school teacher in the Washington, D.C. school district who believes there's an over emphasis on graduation rates. For him, the end of the school year is not just stressful, it's haunting.

This segment is hosted by Noel King.

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