BREAKING: The OPI reports inaccurate Dropout and Graduation Rate changes for 2020-2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 27th, 2022
CONTACT
press@montanademocrats.org
BREAKING: The OPI reports inaccurate Dropout and Graduation Rate changes for 2020-2021
Real numbers appear to obscure worsening achievements under Superintendent Arntzen.
Helena, MT – The Office of Public Instruction (OPI) recently announced their graduation and dropout rates across the state for the 2020-2021 school year. Notably, the OPI’s press release included inaccurate data, which appears to obscure how significantly the dropout and graduation rates worsened under Superintendent Arntzen.
The 2020-2021 dropout rate for grades 9-12 was 3.75%. OPI reported this as a .84% increase from the previous year’s dropout rate of 2.91%. That is inaccurate. In fact, it is a 28.86% increase.
The graduation rate for American Indian students has dropped to 68.30%, representing a 1.28% drop from the previous year of 69.18%– the OPI reported this as a .88% change.
Dropout rates for Native schools increased to 5.87%, representing nearly a 25% increase from the previous year’s 4.70%.
The announcement of the graduation and dropout rates follows a tumultuous year at the OPI– with a nearly 90% turnover rate among administrative staff, and a much-reported backlog in teacher licensing.
“Is the OPI reporting inaccurate data to obscure the worsening achievement gap?” asks Montana Democratic Party Executive Director Sheila Hogan. “Our students and their parents– particularly those in rural and Native schools– deserve the full attention and resources of the OPI, not political games and purposefully misleading numbers to cover up for Superintendent Arntzen’s failures.”
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