First, the apparent “good news”: The high school graduation rate, steadily increasing since 2011, reached a record high of 84.1 percent in 2016, according to new data released by the Education Department. But the news was immediately diminished by the concurrent release of a critical analysis by the Fordham Institute that questioned the value of a high school diploma, a lingering scandal in Washington, D.C., in which half of graduates missed three months or more of school, and, last month, the release of a new report out of Chicago that revealed an alarming difference between the number of students graduating and those passing yearly tests.

Here are some of the issues that have edu-watchers scratching their heads:

  1. Record-High Grad Rate: In 2016, 84.1 percent of U.S. students completed high school on time. Since then, the rate has risen about 4 percentage points, which previous education secretaries have celebrated and publicized.
  2. Diploma Value Questioned:  By many accounts, rising graduation rates and increasing efforts to send students to college have not been matched by an increase in student learning or achievement.
  3. Conflicting Data in Chicago: In December, an analysis of Chicago graduation rates published by Chicago City Wire revealed a “staggering difference” between the number of students graduating and those who passed annual exams. At one school, no students passed the yearly tests, yet more than 90 percent graduated in 2016.
  4. Scandal in D.C: A NPR/WAMU investigation published in November revealed that at the once-celebrated Ballou High School, where all graduates were accepted to college last year, more than half of the students who graduated had missed more than three months of school in their senior year.

Read the article about scandals undercutting graduation rates by Laura Fay at The 74.