Cherry picking education numbers

So its not an "education crisis" as long as you don't count drop-outs?

The source said that the Ministry of Education previously measured the graduation rate by comparing the number of passes against a starting group of students, which included some who had moved from the Island, gone to other schools or dropped out of the system.

“We were so bad at calculating data before that I know the rate was deflated,” they said.

“Students were counted that were no longer in the system; students that had withdrawn or gone to other schools. We were never in the deepest of crises that we were led to believe.”

Thanks to an earlier post on the education numbers, I dug up an article (School statistics flaw corrected) from back in January that said:

Schools have now been equipped with the means to track where a student comes from when they enter the school system, and when they exit.

Recalculating the graduation rates without subsequently providing the details of how many dropped out is cherry picking the numbers so that you get the result you want rather than the real picture.

Give us a breakdown of

a. How many left the island and have not returned

b. How many transferred schools

c. How many dropped out.

A drop-out is a fail to graduate and reflects the education systems failure to educate and prepare young Bermudians.   It is absolutely critical that we know how many are dropping out.  A 50% drop out rate is just as critical as a 50% failure rate because it ultimately means that 50% of Bermudians are not being properly educated. 

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[Funny Numbers]

http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.9123e83a1f6786440ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=930804493f5bc010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD

In 2005 governors of all 50 American states signed the Graduation Counts Compact and committed to a common method for calculating each state's high school graduation rate. In addition to agreeing to a common formula for calculating the graduation rate, the governors committed to leading efforts to improve state data collection, reporting, and analysis; reporting additional indicators of outcomes for students; and reporting annually on their progress toward improved high school graduation, completion, and dropout data. The governors undertook this commitment because they understand the imperative to gather more accurate, comparable data on how many of their students graduate from high school on time.

The States agreed to calculate the graduation rate by dividing the number of on-time graduates in a given year by the number of first-time entering ninth graders four years earlier. This is very different from the abbreviated accounting now used by Bermuda which shows a higher graduation rate.

The Graduation Counts Compact can be found here: http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.9123e83a1f6786440ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=f57c04493f5bc010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD