Arizona Board of Regents Report for the Class of 2010

October 23, 2017

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

I missed the release of the Arizona Board of Regents College Completion report back in April, this time covering the Class of 2010. The chart above shows the four-year college completion rate after six years for the top 10 schools. For those of you scoring at home, that would be 7 charter schools, one district magnet school (University High) and two comprehensive district schools (Catalina Foothills in Tucson and Chaparral in Scottsdale). All 10 of these schools represent choice options, with seven of them using random assignment admission lotteries, one employing placement tests and minimum GPA admission requirements, and the final two mostly for those who can afford pricey real estate.

Overall the news is not good. Only 27.1 percent of the statewide Arizona Class of 2010 earned either a four or two-year degree after six years. This is a lagging indicator, but a very important one. As is the case with the NAEP data, the chart above reinforces a case for a Cheers theme song theory for more small schools, you know, where everybody knows your name:

When you are tracking six year results from cohorts from seven years ago, they are by definition a time capsule. For instance these results come before the recent surge in NAEP scores. It certainly is not the case that only people with degrees contribute to society at all, and it might make sense to track the earning of professional certifications and military service in addition to higher education results. With the state’s age demography challenge unfolding we must continue to find ways to improve the productivity of education spending.

 

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Small Schools 18, Big Box 2

October 4, 2016
Why is this man smiling? Read on MacDuff...

Why is this man smiling? Read on MacDuff…

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

So last week I used an Arizona Board of Regents Report to show you the top AZ high schools year after graduation college attendance:

az-college-attendance

So now let’s take the chart immediately above, and rather than emphasize school type, let’s instead look at the number of high school students. The above chart still ranks the same 20 schools by their 2015 college attendance rates, but simply provides attendance rates.

school-size-az

The two large high-schools that made the list (Chaparral and Catalina Foothills) may be the most leafy of leafy suburban schools in Scottsdale and Tucson respectively. The other 18 schools in the top 20 are small charter and magnet schools. Of course a score of 18 to 2 is merely suggestive, but rigorous evaluations of small schools in New York City point to a similar conclusion: good outcomes come with small schools.

 

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Arizona Charter and Magnet Schools Top the List for College Attendance of 2015 Graduates

September 26, 2016

az-college-attendance

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

‘Nuff said…

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John Oliver Has it All Wrong- We WANT ineffective schools to close

September 22, 2016

bottom-10

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

So I went through the Arizona Board of Regents report on college graduation by high-school some more, and looked this time at the bottom to see whether charter schools were over-represented at the bottom as well as the top. A few caveats I eliminated alternative high schools from the list, as these schools are basically dropout recovery programs. Second, there is a lot of missing data for a lot of high schools, so this may not be the actual bottom 10, more like the bottom 10 for the schools we have data on. Another * goes to Metro Tech which is teaching career and technical skills which might keep graduates gainfully too busy to finish college in a six-year span (although many CTE students do eventually earn college degrees).  Metro Tech may be great or it may leave a lot to be desired but I would not conclude much of anything from their place on this list.

My method for eliminating alternative schools was to look at the oldest available list from the Arizona Department of Education, having said that when you look at the website for the International Commerce High School it mentions serving adult high school students and my spidey sense tells me that it is an alternative school. The other charter school on the list (delightfully imo) closed.

Regular ole district high schools dominate the bottom of the list even more than charter schools dominate the top.  John Oliver should do a segment on how horrible it is that bottom dwelling schools flounder indefinitely without any fear of closure.

 

 

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Arizona Board of Regents Releases High School Graduate College Tracking Study for the Class of 2009

September 21, 2016

top-az-high-schools

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

The Arizona Board of Regents released their annual college attendance/completion study for Arizona public high schools for the Class of 2009.  The aggregate numbers continued to inch up- the total percentage having been 18.6% of the Class of 2007 earning a four year degree in six years, 19.4% of the Class of 2008, and 20.8 percent for the Class of 2009. When you include two year degrees the numbers improved from 25.8% to 27.9%.

Now if you would happen to like to send your child to a school that beats the living daylights out of a statewide one in five college completion in six years rate, we’ve got what you are hankering for in the form of charter schools, magnet schools, and leafy suburban district schools. I’m happy to say that the Ladner kids are attending the #2 and the #5 schools on the list.

Tempe Prep was the prototype for the Great Hearts system, so special kudos to my band of great books happy warrior nerds for effectively capturing the top two spots!

 

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New Arizona Board of Regents Report on AZ High Schools

September 21, 2015

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

The Arizona Board of Regents has released a new study utilizing the National Clearinghouse to track the college success by high school for the public school Class of 2008. Specifically they rank district and charter schools by the percentage of kids earning a BA in six years.

The statewide numbers did not improve much from the analysis of the Class of 2006- 19.4% finished a BA instead of 18.6%. University High- a magnet program in Tucson-comes out on top. As mentioned previously their program utilizes entrance exams, minimum grade point averages, etc. so while it is swell it does not qualify as a general enrollment school. Tempe Prep- the ur-Great Hearts prototype- ranked first among general enrollment schools, followed by Veritas Prep- the first of the Great Hearts schools to get a 12th grade cohort into the analysis. Among general enrollment schools, charter schools took 7 out of the top 10 spots, but let’s just say they could a spot more competition from the districts.

The Pew Center’s book The Next America presented polling data showing that the Baby Boom generation was wealthy but miserable. One of the two main reasons for their misery related to their twenty something year old children living in their basement. Er…welcome to the education reform movement!

 

 

 

 

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