APS graduation rate skyrockets.

The Journal reports, link, APS' graduation rate has risen 17%
due to the NMPED's recalculation of graduation rates statewide.

Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia said in a written statement Friday the new rates were calculated after districts submitted 15,834 changes to their graduation data after the reporting deadline — a contention disputed by some districts including APS and Las Cruces that say their information was submitted on time.

One of the "corrections" that raised APS' rate, was based on the decision to leave ninth graders, who had flunked the ninth grade already, out of calculations. This fact had been reported in an earlier edition of the Journal, and has since been dropped from the Journal coverage.

"...Rose-Ann McKernan, Executive Director of Instruction and Accountability at APS said,

The change in the graduation rate does not reflect a significant difference in the number of graduating students, but rather in the overall number of students tracked.
... many students should not have been counted because they were not first-time ninth-graders.

I cannot imagine the defense for the illogical dropping of students least likely to graduate, from the statistical calculations. Nobody has offered any explanation or defense of the move, which serves only to falsely raise the apparent graduation rate.