Nearly five dozen school districts throughout Michigan could be spared federal penalties this year because the U.S. Department of Education recently agreed to let the state count students who took five years to graduate high school.

School districts in Detroit, Wyandotte, Anchor Bay, Dearborn Heights and other cities may avoid costly penalties because of the relaxed standard, which some say recognizes reality: For many students struggling to get a diploma it can take an extra year. Those struggles are amplified in districts plagued by high crime and poverty.

"Not all kids progress at the same rate," said Jan Ellis, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education. "They continued and made it through, and they should be recognized for that."

Statewide, 75.5 percent of the class of 2008 graduated in four years. When graduates who started high school a year earlier are counted, that number climbs to nearly 79 percent, according to data recently released by the state's Center for Educational Performance and Information.

The data also showed minority and economically disadvantaged students show a bigger increase in the graduation rate after five years than their white counterparts did.

The U.S. Department of Education in June told the state it could amend how it determines if a school or district meets state graduation requirements. It can meet the requirement in one of three ways: by having 80 percent of its students graduate in four years; by having the grad rate improve 10 percent; or by looking at the five-year grad rate. If the rate exceeds 80 percent, the school or district would meet the standard.

Sharif Shakrani, director of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University, said the five-year standard is helpful when looking at the difficulties facing students in tough urban settings like Detroit and Flint. But he did not support the request for a looser standard.

"The only harm is it may send the message to a ninth-grader that it's OK to graduate in five years," he said. "What I worry about is the message it sends to young people that you don't have to graduate with your class."

Source: Detroit News, 07.03.09