State statistics don't show Edison's true success

Edison School District 54 JT does not have a lowly 50 percent graduation rate for 2011.

It’s actually about 90 percent, one of the highest in the county and state. The state average was 73.9 percent.

Blame the nature of statistics. Blame the state graduation reporting system. Blame a new federal mandate for making the rural district east of Colorado Springs look less than stellar.  

But do not blame the students or those who taught them.

The graduation rates, released recently by the Colorado Department of Education, didn’t take into account that about 13 of Edison’s 35 seniors were in the Ascent program, said Superintendent Pat Bershinsky. It’s a state program in which seniors remain enrolled in their high school for a fifth year to take post-secondary coursework.

They forgo their diploma for a year, but in the fifth year, most earn their associate college degree at the same time they get their high school one. The Edison students are attending Pikes Peak Community College and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

“The statistics are skewed. In reality, here they are in college making A’s and B’s,” said Bershinsky. He noted that concerned parents have been calling, upset about the low graduation rate reported last week — which wasn’t really low. Only a couple of kids didn’t graduate.

The CDE’s graduation data does not include the ambitious college students in its four-year or “on time” graduation rate. The Ascent students are figured as part of the statistical base, that’s what brings the score down, said Jan Rose Pietro, CDE director of data services.

“It doesn’t look good this year, but next year Edison could conceivably have an almost 100 percent graduation rate. And not only will many of the  students leave with a high school diploma, but also a college degree in hand.”

Small districts are impacted by such statistical quagmires more than the large ones, where a handful of students doesn’t shift the percentages much.

The state is required to use a formula  based on U.S. Department of Education mandates that are part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. That calculation emphasizes “on time” graduation, students who graduate within four years of entering ninth grade. Those who take longer are considered in a second statistic that on the surface doesn’t explain whether Johnny is home playing video games or studying calculus in college.

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