Issue Position: High School Completion

Issue Position

We cannot achieve our highest ideals as a state until we make a commitment to get 100% of our students graduated from high school with a high-quality diploma. Unfortunately, we still have an unacceptable dropout rate around 21%! Every student that drops out or is pushed out of our schools loses an average of $370,000 in lifetime earnings compared to a high school completer. Not only do these folks struggle mightily in life, they are much more likely to depend on taxpayer services in the form of food assistance, emergency medical support, criminal justice resources, and sadly a much higher incarceration rate. As we face this challenge together, the first thing we have to be committed to together is keeping students in school and graduating. Sadly, right now we are pushing away students because some of them do not perform well on standardized tests in a particular subject. No generation of students in our state's history has been subject to more standardized tests. And no generation in our state's history has been denied a diploma because of their performance on one test, until now. I am a strong believer in high standards and even the use of standardized tests to measure student progress and to diagnose where they need help, but I am committed to making sure that we are not increasing our dropout and pushout rate because of standardized tests. Our students deserve multiple ways to demonstrate their proficiency, their ability, and their passion. Our economy needs all kinds of talent and our students deserve multiple pathways to graduation.

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