2009 Diplomas Count Graduation Report

• Author: Education Week, Research Center
• Date: June 11, 2009
• Topics: Graduation. Graduation Rates, Graduation Standards, Graduation Achievement Gap
• Synopsis: Reports the graduation rate for the class of 2006 using a national graduation standard that includes students from 9th through 12th grade.  At 72.2%, Utah's graduation rate ranks 26th in the U.S, where the national average is 69.2%.  The previous year, Utah had the 8th best graduation rate at 78.6%.  The year before that, Utah ranked first at 83.8%.

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RELATED NEWS

• Report: Graduation rate in Utah is falling>> Salt Lake Tribune - June 9, 2009
• Graduation findings disputed>> Deseret News - June 9, 2009

Advanced Placement Report, Utah

• Source: CollegeBoard
• Date: February 4, 2009
• Topics: Test Scores (Advanced Placement)
• Synopsis: Breaks down Utah's most recent Advanced Placement (AP) test scores.  At 18.9%, Utah was 10th best in the U.S. for the percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher on an AP exam during high school.

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RELATED CONTENT

• Learn more about the AP test>>

RELATED NEWS

• Utah teens outscore nation in most AP test subjects>>  Deseret News - February 5, 2009
• Utah outpaces nation on AP tests>>  Salt Lake Tribune - February 5, 2009

2008 Utah Graduation Rate

• Author: Utah State Office of Education, Assessment & Accountability
• Date: January 28, 2009
• Topics: Graduation Rates, Achievement Gap
• Synopsis: Reports the graduation rate for the class of 2008.  At 88% it was same as the graduation rate in 2007.  The USOE's graduation rate tracks 10th - 12th graders and shows the percentage of 10th graders who do not drop out before September 30th of the year their class graduates high school.  The report breaks the graduation rate down by student demographics, school districts, and individual high schools.  The achievement gap between Caucasian and Hispanic students increased 22% from 2007 to 2008.

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RELATED NEWS

• High school graduation rate holds steady>> Salt Lake Tribune - January 30, 2009
• Data show graduation disparity>> Deseret News - January 30, 2009

2008 State Teacher Policy Yearbook: Why States Fail to Retain Effective New Teachers

• Author: National Council on Teacher Quality
  
• Date: January 29, 2009
  
• Topics: School Employees
• Synopsis: Finds that the laws and regulations of a majority of states discourage promising new teachers from sticking with the profession, while doing little to identify and move out ineffective teachers.  Overall Utah earned a"D."  In the area of Identification of Effectiveness, Utah earned a "D."  In the area of Retaining Effective Teachers, Utah earned a "C."  And in the area of "Exiting Ineffective Teachers, Utah earned a "C."

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RELATED NEWS

• Study: Utah schools fail to nurture teacher excellence>> Salt Lake Tribune - January 30, 2009

Superintendent's Annual Report, 2007-08

• Author: Utah State Office of Education
• Date: January 2, 2009
• Topics: Get the Facts, Spending, Test Scores, Graduation, Class Size, Enrollment, Achievement Gap, School Employee Compensation/Salary
• Synopsis:  Each December, the State Superintendent is required to present this comprehensive report on the status of the public education system to the State Legislature and Governor.  This report is the source for a large portion of the data presented in the Get the Facts section of this website.

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Access the Data Files of the Report>> This links to a long list of spreadsheets with a wealth of K-12 data.

Key Issues - 2009 General Session Preview

• Author: Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel
  
• Date: November 2008
• Topics: Spending (How its Funded), Coming Soon to Utah (Merit Pay, NASA/Singapore Math), School Options (Career & Technical Education), 
• Synopsis: The Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel provides this compilation of some of the key issues that the Utah State Legislature may address during the upcoming session.  The report discusses issues that have been addressed by the Legislature in interim committee meetings.  It includes a section specifically on education issues.

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RELATED CONTENT/NEWS

• Future of K-12 - On the Hill>>
  

A Performance Audit of School Building Construction

• Author: Office of the Legislative Auditor General
  
• Date: November 2008
• Topics: Spending (Construction Costs)
• Synopsis: Reviews the process and costs of school building construction in Utah.  The key findings were that several school districts lack competition in the bidding process; some school districts should improve their evaluation process; Utah’s rising school construction costs less than other states; and new school building have not substantially increased in size, although space per student in new schools is higher than the USOE recommends.

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RELATED NEWS

• Audit says 9 districts didn't let firms compete>> Deseret News - November 19, 2008
• Audit finds flaws in Utah's school district bidding>> Salt Lake Tribune - November 19, 2008
  

FEATURED REPORT:
A Nation at Risk

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the landmark report A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. 

Deemed "the most important education reform document of the 20th century" by education historian Diane Ravitch, the report received overwhelming media attention, alerting the entire nation to the failings of our education system and the risk it posed to our national security and economic well-being. The report warned:

"The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people. What was unimaginable a generation ago has begun to occur--others are matching and surpassing our educational attainments." 

The report was released April 26, 1983 and was written by the U.S. Secretary of Education's National Commission on Excellence in Education.

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Funding Student Learning: How to Align Education Resources with Student Learning Goals

• Author: National Working Group on Funding Student Learning
  
• Date: October 2008
• Topics: Spending, K-12 Innovations (Weighted Student Funding)
• Synopsis: With a $6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 5 years of research, this report focuses on how education funding systems should be structured.  According to the report, the key ingredients in the recipe for fixing broken school finance systems are: Allow dollars to follow students to their schools, Integrate resource decisions with instructional plans; measure and analyze results of different expenditures, Actively support continuous student improvement, Define and fund a research and development agenda that expands what we know about effective resource use, and Make resource use and academic achievement central to financial reporting practices, and use funding contingencies to create fair and meaningful accountability.

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RELATED CONTENT/NEWS

• K-12 Innovations - Weighted Student Funding>>
• Overhaul School Finance Systems, Researchers Urge>> Education Week - November 20, 2008