research paper graduation rates in ogden city

Ogden United Promise Neighborhoods:

Graduation Rates

Stefany Anderson and Brogan Van Patten

Weber State University

GRADUATION RATES: PROMISED NEIGHBORHOODS1

I. Research Objectives

Recently United Way in Ogden applied for a grant from the Federal Government called

Promise Neighborhoods. If United Way is successful in being awarded the grant, the money

would be poured into the Ogden community programs, education system and other institutions.

The goal of Promise Neighborhoods is to help children be successful from “cradle to career” by

stimulating the community around them, making it possible for them to grow in a stable and

nurturing environment. Funds from the grant would enhance Ogden’s community and present

opportunities to the youth that they otherwise may not have gotten. United Way was awarded a

research grant to investigate the needs of Ogden and to what extent those needs are being met or

neglected. The research done in this project will show the extent of Ogden’s needs and where the

greatest assets and deficits in the community lie.

United Way has contracted Weber State University to conduct the needs assessment

required for this grant application. Promise Neighborhoods has identified fifteen indicators of a

strong community where children can be successful. Those indicators range from children’s

nutrition to transportation to internet access. The overall needs assessment is looking at every

single aspect of life that is required for the development and success of a child or adolescent.

Those working on this enormous project have split into groups in order to have organization and

to have equal workload on everyone. Each group has been assigned a different indicator which

they are responsible to investigate in depth, as well as contribute to the overall data collection in

this study.

This group is focused specifically on graduation rates among high school students in the

Ogden City area. First, this study will gather data to find out what the graduation rate is in

Ogden City School District. To understand this figure better, the graduation rate will be


compared alongside of the rates in other local school districts. These rates will also be compared

to those Utah State’s rate, and the entire United States’ graduation rate.

Along with discovering what the actual graduation rate currently is in Ogden, this project

will study what the people within the community think about those rates. It’s likely that the

graduation rate is considerably low, and this study aims to discover if community members find

that problematic, or if they do not see this as an issue at all. The Promise Neighborhoods Grant is

interested in the opinions of residents and employees in the Ogden community, as funds will be

disbursed to the institutions that community members deem to be priority. Because of this, it’s

important to find out what level of concern the people of Ogden hold for the graduation rate and

the completion of high school for youths. After discovering the general attitude toward education

and graduation, this study will attempt to explain that attitude or level of concern. This is of

interest because it’s important to know why the community members do or do not value

education in order to ensure funding goes to the programs that community members support.

Graduation rates are a concern because students who do not graduate from high school

are unable to attend college and are less likely to find employment that will allocate sufficient

funds. A wide variety of risk factors have been associated with low income socioeconomic status

(SES), and individuals are more likely to find themselves in these conditions when they do not

earn a high school diploma. We think that graduation rates may be of concern to the Ogden area

because of these facts.


II. Concepts

The concept of this study is graduation rate. Graduation rate is a percentage determined

by the number of cohort that successfully completed standard requirements to receive a high

school diploma compared with the overall amount of students enrolled in public or charter high

schools within the specified school district(s). The requirements must be met within a specific

time interval in order for them to receive a diploma. This study is not taking into consideration

those students who went on to earn a GED after not completing the high school graduation

standards. The second concept that this study is concerned with is the general opinion of the

community regarding the graduation rate. It’s important to know if the community finds

education and high school graduation important and what their level of concern is. If the Promise

Neighborhoods Grant is awarded to the Ogden community, funds will used to improve

conditions that the public finds concerning. Their opinions and level of concern matter very

much because they determine which institutions will receive the extra funding. This study will

measure how much of a priority the graduation rate is to community residents and employees in

comparison to other indicators. Even if the graduation rate is dismal in comparison to other

school districts in Utah and the United States, the grant will not be used toward better education

if this is not found to be important to the community at large. This study will discover just what

people think about the graduation rate, and if they find education to be an important indicator of

success. This study also seeks to discover what residents and employees in the community would

like to see happen to improve educational opportunities for students (given that they feel it’s

worth improving).


III. Literature Review

Article One: Staying in School: A Proposal for Raising High School Graduation Rates.

Socio-economic and family life can have an adverse effect on high school graduation rates. This

is because poverty and other familial conflicts affect a person’s drive and motivation for school.

When a person is living with poverty where they struggle just to make ends meet, this could

cause them to fall into more destructive pathways. Messacar and Oreopoulos (2013) mention

certain programs and compulsory attendance as ways to dramatically increase graduation rates

among high school students. According to Messacar and Oreopoulos (2013), high school

dropouts earn less money, have a higher probability of ending up in jail, are not as healthy, and

not as likely to be married. Even though the dropout rates are higher than what they should

ideally be, studies show that they have actually stayed the same for the past thirty years

(Messacar et. al. 2013). When it comes to the lifetime challenges these dropouts face, they are

quite morbid. This study found that about 16 percent of dropouts are unemployed and about 32

percent of them live below the poverty line. When a person only makes 12.75 per hour, with that

being their only income, it definitely makes life tough (Messacar et. al. 2013). One of the many

problems mentioned here as being a precursor to dropping out is teen pregnancy. When teens

get pregnant, they are likely to face a lot of stressors and responsibilities that hinder them from

performing up to par when it comes to their schooling. Messacar and Oreopoulos (2013) also

found that high school dropouts disengage from school long before they drop out. This tells us

that interventions need to be implemented early on.

Article Two: Moving beyond dichotomies: How the intersection of race, class and place

impacts high school graduation rates for African American students (Storer, et.al 2012). This


article discusses how race and social class can affect high school graduation rates. Also, there

are certain indicators which make graduation from high school less likely. Unfortunately, some

ethnic groups are less likely to graduate from high school than others. African Americans are

shown, on average, to have significantly less achievement than whites (Storer, et. al. 2013).

Storer (2013) refers to this as the “opportunity gap”. Part of this gap may be attributed to the

standardized testing system. Some researchers claim that standardized tests are biased toward

certain races and cultures (Storer, et. al. 2013). Even though African Americans are falling

behind whites with graduating from high school, there needs to be something done to change

this. Then, minority groups will be able to go beyond the stereotypes and really become

successful. Also, there are certain places of the country where poverty is more prevalent. This is

also where the educational opportunities are limited. This limits the opportunities students have

to gain educational resources (Storer, et. al. 2013).

Article Three: Ascher, C. & McGuire, C. (2011). Beating the odds. Education Digest, 76(5), 13-

20. This study talks about how 13 high schools in New York had super low graduation rates and

they set out and succeeded in raising the graduation raise. They focused on four key areas to do

this: academic rigor, networks of timely supports, college expectations and access, and effective

use of data (Ascher & McGuire, 2011).

Academic Rigor: Although there is a temptation to lower school curriculum standards in an

effort to raise the graduation rate, the BTO (beating the odds) schools actually raised and

standardized their curriculum. Teachers were monitored to make sure they were teaching and

assigning homework that would be challenging to students and would require them to put forth

some effort.


Networks of timely supports: They also made a point to build a strong network of support for

every single student—not just the ones who were excelling or struggling. Adults in the school

were responsible for a few students each. They would be sure to check on students grades, help

them take the tests they needed, and make regular contact with their assigned students to keep

them from falling behind. Tutors and mentors were also placed into the schools for the aid of

anyone who needed them.

College Expectations and Access: Many students’ parents never had the opportunity to go to

college. Because their parents didn’t have a postsecondary education, many students had never

considered going to college themselves. The BTO schools began talking to students about

college attendance, access and opportunities by at the time they’d reached ninth grade. There

were discussions on college entrance requirements, financial aid workshops, even tours of

various college campuses.

Effective use of data: Lastly, the BTO schools collected and used data within their schools. They

were able to determine which programs were effective and which needed to be improved using

these methods.

Article Four: Education department releases high school graduation rates by United States

Department of Education (2012). This short piece discusses the release of Iowa’s graduation rate

in their new data-gathering process. While the article did not describe what the new (or old) way

of evaluating high school graduation rate is, it does assure readers that the new way is more

accurate. In the near future most or all states will gather these rates in much the same way as

Iowa. This will paint a clearer picture for educators and policy makers in the United States for

just how concerning the country’s graduation rate really is.


Article Five: Lost at the Last Minute by Menzer & Hampel (2009). This article is concerned with

those students who make it all the way through high school, only to fail to meet the minimum

graduation requirements. The study explores possible types and reasons for students dropping

out at the last minute. Qualitative data was gathered and four types of dropouts were identified:

the lackadaisical, the overwhelmed, the struggler, and the surprised.

The lackadaisical dropouts were those who simply lacked a strong work ethic and could

not be bothered to complete coursework, even when measures were taken to ease the workload

of the student. These students did not have aspirations of attending college and were not

concerned with academics.

The overwhelmed students were those who experienced personal hardships during their

senior year. These students’ need to survive took priority over their desire to graduate high

school. Some of these students had been kicked out of their homes, some had given birth. They

did not lack work ethic, they just didn’t have the resources—especially time—to give to

graduating high school. Many of the overwhelmed dropouts did eventually attain their diploma

or GED because they refused to give up.

The strugglers were those who had been barely scraping by all throughout high school.

Many of these students struggled with one particular subject for their whole lives. Going into

their senior year, they’d met the bare minimum requirements for these subjects but then failed to

meet them for the last year of school. These are the students who often don’t put forth much

effort in school until just before grades are due, at which time they beg for extra credit and do as

much make-up work as possible. However at the end of senior year, they underestimated the

amount of work they would have to make up and their efforts were too little, too late.


The surprised dropouts were those who were on track for graduation and fully expected

to receive their diploma with the rest of their cohort. Unfortunately they failed required courses

in the last quarter of their senior year. This came as a surprise to the students and their parents.

Most of the students did enroll in summer school and eventually earned their high school degree.

These findings and descriptions are of great importance because of the implications they

bring. In all four types of dropouts, the reason for not graduating was circumstantial. None of the

students lacked the ability or intelligence to meet graduation requirements. They only lacked

resources, work ethic or time management skills in order to succeed. While it’s unfortunate that

these students did not graduate with their cohort, this study inspires hope to educators about their

ability to help students and raise the graduation rate. They are not powerless as there are options

for getting students the resources and skills they need in order to earn a high school diploma.

Article Six: Keeping kids in school: Officials grapple with ways to identify at-risk kids and cut

the state’s alarming dropout rates by Hubartt (2006). Indiana state educators were faced with a

very real problem as soon as the criteria for gathering graduation rate data was changed in 2004-

2005. While the old methods reflected graduation rates as high as 97%, the new methods for

gathering graduation rates painted a different picture. Using the new methods, the state’s

graduation rates appeared to be closer to 71%. Faced with the new reality, officials discuss the

risks factors associated with many of their students as well as ways to combat those risks.

Many of the students within one specific school district do not speak fluent English,

while half of them qualify for free or reduced lunch. Officials discuss measures already in place

in schools that work to combat the dropout rate. Some schools have a peer-tutoring program,


while others require an exit-interview with each senior to ensure students are aware of each

option they have to complete graduation requirements.

IV. Methods

A. Subjects for Study

This study is using secondary data subjects; we will be collecting Ogden City graduation

rates data from the Utah State Office of Education. The current study has conducted 15 focus

groups within the community to discuss current concerns and attitudes. Participants were those

who are employed in Ogden, live there, are students there, have students in Ogden, or are

involved in the community in other ways. Focus group participants were made up with

secondary students, post-secondary students, community workers, elementary school parents,

teachers, stake holders and other important members of the society. Focus groups were run at

various places in the community including the Red Cross Center, Ogden High School, Weber

State University, and a church in the community. Participants in the focus group were a variety

of ages; as mentioned above, there were high school aged students, as well as college students,

etc. The focus groups were held early on in the study, as this data was needed for collection and

later analysis. Having flexible hours was important when holding focus groups, because many

members were on different schedules. This study wanted to make things as convenient as

possible for focus group participants. Knowing the appropriate groups to talk to is key in this

study because it is important to make sure graduation rates are talked about, as well as other

factors that influence graduating from high school.


B. Data Collection Methods

This study will discover graduation rates of high school students in Ogden City and other

school districts, as well as state and national level rates using secondary data from the Utah State

Office of Education. The concerns community members hold about those rates will be revealed

in responses from focus groups. There were 15 focus groups held over the course of a month.

These focus groups addressed issues pertinent to the needs of the Ogden community. Responses

to these questions brought up the discussion of education and need for students to graduate from

high school. Thus, in order for high school students to reach success later on in life, it sounds

like gaining a high school diploma is on the minds of the community. These methods are being

used so that we can understand the concern of the community from their perspective through the

focus group responses using their own words. Through this qualitative data, community

members can express their complete opinion and concerns. Almost all of the indicators were

mentioned in these focus groups, even if the questions were not directly pointed in that direction.

Focus group data was collected at the beginning of the study, due to the fact the information was

needed for further analysis. These groups were run during various times of the day, whenever

participants were available at their convenience. There were various places at which focus

groups were held, as well. Focus groups were set up to be at the convenience of group members

so that their valuable thoughts and feelings were given. These focus groups were recorded via a

hand-held recording device, which was purchased from the Community Involvement Center at

Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Participants were given a consent form stating they

were aware they were being recorded; there was an option not to participate at the discretion of

group members. During the focus groups, there was a facilitator who prompted participants with

pertinent questions about the community and there was a note taker, who was in charge of


capturing key phrases or ideas. After focus groups were run, a transcriber listened to the

recordings and typed all that was said verbatim. This data was then given to coders who were

able to take sections of the transcript, and match them to different indicators.

C. Measurement

This study mainly used secondary data when studying graduation rates in Ogden City,

Utah. This information was compiled from the Utah State Office of Education. Data collected

through the USOE consists of actual numerical summaries of Ogden graduation rates for

previous academic years. There, one can find the percentage of all high school students who

dropped out of high school previous to graduation, as well as what percentage were minorities.

Focus groups were also used to measure the concerns regarding these graduation rates. There

were only four focus group questions, all of which were broad enough to open up a wide

discussion of community concerns. The questions were: 1) What do children need most in order

to become successful adults? 2) What main strengths and assets does this community have that

ensure the success of children? 3) What are the biggest obstacles that keep children in this

community from succeeding? 4) Imagine that perfect system were in place, and this system

ensured the success of every child in the community. How would that system work? These

questions provoked responses regarding all of the indicators already identified by this study, and

brought up new concerns not thought of yet. Once the focus groups were completed, coding was

done by reading over the transcriptions of each group. These transcripts were then matched with

various indicators participants mentioned while voicing concerns in the focus groups. There was

a list of 17 indicators that could be matched with excerpts from the transcripts.


V. Results

This study’s first objective, finding out the actual graduation rates themselves, was found

through secondary data. At the beginning of the 2010-2011 academic year Ogden City School

District had 969 seniors enrolled. In May of 2011, only 642 of those students received a high

school diploma. This is a graduation rate of only 66 percent. The same criteria were used in

reporting the graduation rate for Weber County School District. At the beginning of the

academic year the school district had 2,408 students enrolled, while 1,866 of them later

graduated. This gives Weber County School District a rate of 77 percent. The method for

determining Utah State’s graduation rate was determined by the number of students enrolled at

the beginning of their ninth grade year, then how many gradated four years later. At the

beginning of the 2007-2008 academic year, there were 42,062 freshmen enrolled. When it came

time for that cohort’s graduation, 32,705 of them received a high school diploma in May of

2011. The Utah State Office of Education provided this data. Looking to the National Center for

Education Statistics for data on the United States’ graduation rate, it was determined that the

average graduation rate among states is 78.3 percent. When comparing the number of graduating

seniors in Ogden School District to other rates, it is apparent that Ogden struggles to keep kids in

school.

Objectives two and three, discussing the level of concern and reason for those concerns

about graduation rates, were analyzed in the focus groups conducted throughout the community.

In analyzing coded focus group data, it was obvious that education stands as a priority among

community members. The actual graduation rate was rarely—if ever—mentioned in these

conversations, but the need for education was. Community members expressed a desire for more

and better education in the community in every focus group, often several times throughout the


discussions. Researchers can infer from the prevalence of comments regarding education that the

community does hold a high level of concern about graduation rates. One participant said, “I

think in a perfect system you have good schools that are well funded and well educated, with

good opportunities for jobs so they don’t have to go into poverty because they had to drop out of

school, or because they didn’t get a good education. Schools have to be improved in Ogden”

(Ogden Resident, 2013).

Objective three of this study is to explain the concern that the community holds for

education, and more specifically, Ogden’s graduation rates. Given the content of the statements

made by focus group participants about education, it’s obvious that they understand the very real

implications and consequences of dropping out of high school. One community member said, “In

the school system, if you can't pass the curriculum, you probably wouldn't go to the next level.

You have to have the skill sets and education to succeed” (Ogden Resident, 2013). Another

participant in a different focus group stated, “We have some of the highest numbers of parents

and as I understand it, adults in the area, not just adults in the community, who have not

completed high school and did not graduate, and that leads to many other things like poverty…

So, I think the biggest thing is education” (Ogden Resident, 2013). Clearly the members of

Ogden community know that in order to have a successful and nurturing community, you must

make it possible for members to attain an education.


VI. Conclusions

Based on the findings and implications of this study, researchers can confidently state

that there is a large discrepancy between the current graduation rate in Ogden City and what that

graduation rate should be. When comparing the Ogden School District rates to those of Weber

School District and then to those of the overall State and nation, it’s obvious that those rates

aren’t up to par. A graduation rate of 66 percent means that only 2 out of 3 students are

graduating from high school in this community. The lack of education has a huge impact on the

entire city and the community members are aware of those consequences.

In the focus groups, the need for greater education came up several times and those

discussing this subject clearly understood that a low graduation rate means fewer opportunities

for high paying jobs and higher education for those dropping out. The participants knew that

having a community full of uneducated people means a less stable community for everyone

living there.

Considering the actual graduation rate compared to others, the level of concern held by

the community toward those rates, and the reasons for those concerns, it’s easy to see that Ogden

United Promise Neighborhoods needs to focus on improving the education system in this area.

Focus group participants have expressed a desire for stronger educational background for

residents in Ogden City, which only adds to the list of reasons to award greater funding to the

school system. If given the money they need, the school district could develop and implement

programs in an effort to get and keep kids in school, and to give them a quality education. While

improving the graduation rates in Ogden may not solve every problem in the area, it’s certainly

an excellent place to start.


Works Cited

Ascher, C. & McGuire, C. (2011). Beating the odds. Education Digest, 76(5), 13-20.

Hubartt, M. (2006). Keeping kids in school: Officials grapple with new ways to identify at-risk

kids and cut the state’s alarming dropout rates. The News-Sentinel. Accession number

2W62W62013279824.

Menzer, J. & Hampel, R. (May 2009). Lost at the last minute. Phi Delta Kappan, 90(9), 660-664.

United States Department of Education, (2012). Education Department Releases High School

Graduation Rates. American School and University. 85(4), 42.

Messacar, D., Oreopoulos, P. (2013). Staying in School: A proposal for raising high-school

graduation rates. Issues in Science & Technology, 29(2), 55-61.

National Center for Education Statistics (2013). Retrieved from nces.ed.gov

Storer, H. L., Mienko, J. A., Chang, Y., Kang, J., Miyawaki, C., & Schultz, K. (2012). Moving

beyond dichotomies: How the intersection of race, class and place impacts high school

graduation rates for African American students. Journal of Sociology and Social

Welfare, 39(1), 17-44

Utah State Office of Education (2013). Retrieved from www.schools.utah.gov

research paper graduation rates in ogden city

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