China News Service, February 18. According to the US "World Journal" report, just as the high school graduation rate in 20 states in the United States is rapidly declining, the relevant data of New York City is facing headwinds during the epidemic, and it will increase to 82% in 2021, including Asia. With a 91% graduation rate, the American ranks first among all ethnic groups.
However, many critics have questioned that the soaring graduation rate has something to do with the government's relaxation of graduation standards.
The New York State Department of Education released the latest statistics on the 16th, announcing that the graduation rate of New York City high schools in the last school year reached 82%, which was 2.3% higher than the previous school year; Graduation rates appear to be "standing out of the crowd" amid a decline in graduation rates.
Asian-American students in New York City are far behind other ethnic groups with a high graduation rate of 91%. White students ranked second with 82%, African-American students ranked third with 79%, and Hispanic students with 78%; in addition to white students In addition to a 2% drop in student graduation rates compared to previous years, graduation rates for other ethnic groups have steadily increased, with Hispanics up as much as 4%, African Americans up 3%, and Asians up 2%.
David Bloomfield, a professor of education at City University's Brooklyn College, said, "The increase in graduation rates is a good thing, but there are still many people who worry that this increase is due to the policy easing brought about by the epidemic, not the academic performance improvement.”
Indeed, many critics believe that the increase in New York's high school graduation rate is the result of the government's intention to relax completion standards, because during the epidemic, the state canceled several high school state exams (Regents) and allowed students to graduate without taking relevant exams. ; Before the pandemic, New York State required students to pass five exams to get the "Regents Diploma" (high school diploma).
In the face of the state exam required by the federal Department of Education, the State Department of Education applied for a statewide exemption on the grounds that public health standards did not meet the requirements; therefore, in 2021, nearly three-quarters of New York City high school graduates, about 44,545 people received at least one exemption from the exam; in 2020, the number was 8,000; statewide, a total of 82% of high school graduates received an exemption from the exam.
"We can't determine how much the cancellation of some exams will have an impact on the improvement of graduation rates, but the university enrollment rate has also increased steadily, and the academic performance of students cannot be completely denied." The State Department of Education responded that the necessary exemption from the exams is due to the quality of online teaching. I don’t want students to be unfairly treated because of the educational changes caused by the epidemic. After all, during the epidemic, 60% of New York high school students studied completely online, and the rest of the students studied online and offline.
(Zhang Xin)