The commencement speaker at Hudson High School graduation last week was former superintendent of schools Maria Suttmeier. In introducing Suttmeier, Phillip Campbell, associate principal at Hudson High, noted that during her tenure as superintendent (2012 to 2022) the graduation rate rose from 58 percent to 89 percent. It was not revealed in what year 89 percent was achieved, but since then things seem not to be going as well.
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| Screen capture: Hudson High School Graduation 2026 | Lance Wheeler |
Hudson, which is characterized in the article as one of the "former Rust Belt cities," is also mentioned:
. . . the economically challenged Hudson City School District in the upper Hudson Valley has seen its numbers generally worsen over the past decade--from a graduation rate of 77% and a dropout rate of 11% in 2015 to a lowly 67% grad rate and a 16% dropout rate in 2025, according to state data.
The article does indicate there are schools in "economically challenged urban districts" where graduation rates have improved in the past ten years:
In Albany, the grad rate improved from 57% in 2025 to 75% last year, according to state records. At the same time, the dropout rate was cut in half, from 20% in 2015 to 10% in 2025. Similarly, Schenectady's graduation rate jumped from 59% to 73% while its dropout rate dropped from 20% to 10%--an especially encouraging development for officials in a district that grappled with a dropout rate of over 30% as recently as 2011.
Data for 2026 is not yet available.
The graduation rate as a measure of how well a school is doing can be very misleading. The easiest way to improve the graduation rate is to lower or eliminate standards.
ReplyDeletePerhaps real leaders would instead demonstrate the benefits of graduation are so compelling so as to instill in students a strong desire to graduate.
Look at Portsmouth, NH. The statewide test every junior takes is the SAT, so the public sees a real outside score for every kid.
ReplyDeleteHudson gives the "Regents" on a soft curve, and no SAT (none reported at least)
HCSD / Bluehawks boosters will say Hudson is poorer.
True. But income sets where a kid starts, not how far the school takes them (improvement).
Plenty of poor districts, and certainly charter schools in cities, post strong gains.
Hudson spends about $40,000 a head to Portsmouth's ~$20,000, and still trails by a lot in performance.
Poverty explains the starting line. It doesn't explain the redistributive taxation/spending, and it doesn't explain the low HCSD results.
You can't tax extra to offset poverty, then post below-average results and blame poverty.
Pick one.