Welp, Georgia, you're now close to dead last in highschool grad. rates (Atlanta: best neighborhoods, houses)

[RoslynHolcomb]

Originally Posted by GeorgiatoChina

I took half of it in 2002 in 10th grade and the other half in 2003 in 11th grade. Pass both the first time and this was right after the state changed it to a 11th grade level vs the 8th grade level it was before. This was in the Mobile area. So I know.

It was not hard. People were even saying the old 8th grade level high school exit exams was hard and I couldn't believe it.

And you took the test in Georgia, when?

[RoslynHolcomb]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Honey, no. If anything, I like having people like you in my community.

Thank you. It's lovely ofyou to say so.

[roxyrn]

The Georgia math test is a lot more advanced than basic math or algebra. My husband had a perfect score on the math part of the SATs, back in the day, and even he thinks it is no piece of cake.

[GeorgiaLakeSearch]

People really think that test is hard? I just pulled up the sample, and I had no problem with the math.

[MattCW]

Part of the problem is that the focus is too much on college. Technical schools are great, and there are many jobs open to people with just a high school diploma if they could have taken some kind of career-oriented program in high school. Not everyone is going to go to college, and trying to force-fit everyone into that mold isn't helping anything but make a bunch of business-degree educational administrators (who haven't been in a classroom since they graduated) feel good about themselves.

[devin1229]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaLakeSearch

People really think that test is hard? I just pulled up the sample, and I had no problem with the math.

I pulled up the sample too and didn't find anything adversely difficult. Yeah, some things made you stop and think for a second but heaven forbid we ask 18 year olds about fractions and multiplying. I actually thought some of the questions were pretty close to real-life scenarios (e.g., there was one about a co-pay and deductible).

[dichloromethane]

Anyone else found it ironic that Washington, D.C. has a high school graduation rate of 59 percent?

DC land!

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Part of the problem is that the focus is too much on college. Technical schools are great, and there are many jobs open to people with just a high school diploma if they could have taken some kind of career-oriented program in high school. Not everyone is going to go to college, and trying to force-fit everyone into that mold isn't helping anything but make a bunch of business-degree educational administrators (who haven't been in a classroom since they graduated) feel good about themselves.

The most sensible post here!!

[dichloromethane]

In all seriousness, not all is lost. Georgia's SAT was up this year while national averages fell. Granted, we're still behind in the game, there was an improvement.

I don't think the graduation rates have as much to do with the graduation test as it does socioeconomics. The test may only play a slight factor. I'd like to see the trends among graduation rates of various groups - especially among the economically disadvantages and the disabled student population.

MattCW you bring up an outstanding point. Gordon Gee of Ohio State University has been trying to implement technical programs into the University for years. Politics and jeopardizing the name of the university students have prevented it.

I hope 2013 is a fighting year for for-profit open enrollment colleges.

[LovelySummer]

I totally agree - technical skills are needed in this country too and should be valued. Kids should have access to a technical education and perhaps, if there needs to be any test, give them the test that is aligned with their high school education focus.

Further, if kids do well in their high school and the high school is prepared to graduate them, then why hold up progress for a statewide exam? Different schools teach at different levels also so kids are being prepared differently. Why punish the children who are doing everything that they are supposed to do according to "their" school's criteria by forcing them to take a statewide exam? If that's the case, all schools should be teaching all of the students the same subject matter, and that is not the case.

And when is the educational sector of Georgia going to realize that they are screwing up? The decision-making on the inside about how teachers should proceed, etc. is horrific and changes from year to year. I am privy to the info so I know. Who are these people that are being hired to run the schools? It's really quite baffling that these people can stay employed with this type of performance from year to year in most school districts in Georgia. I'm not talking about the glorious East Cobb so people need not comment on how great it is - I really could not care less. I'm talking about EVERYBODY ELSE that can't afford or have no interest in living in East Cobb in the metro area.

And that brings me to another point - while I'm on the subject. How is it that, in Georgia, you can pay half a mil for a home and the school around the corner be crap? It is like that all over areas of metro Atlanta where the dollar amount to get into a home is not pennies. I looked up a home in Sandy Springs that caught my interest and the associated elementary school had a greatschool score of about 5. 5????!!!!! For as much as they wanted for the home??? In Sandy Springs???? How is it that houses are expensive but the schools are crap? What's wrong with this picture? Where is the real estate tax money going in Georgia - is it not going to the schools?

Originally Posted by MattCW

Part of the problem is that the focus is too much on college. Technical schools are great, and there are many jobs open to people with just a high school diploma if they could have taken some kind of career-oriented program in high school. Not everyone is going to go to college, and trying to force-fit everyone into that mold isn't helping anything but make a bunch of business-degree educational administrators (who haven't been in a classroom since they graduated) feel good about themselves.