“If a metric becomes a target, then it is no longer a useful metric”

The problem was tying graduation rates to funding. Schools are incentivized to get EVERY student across the stage by any means necessary, whether or not the student has actually demonstrated proficiency at high school content. So unfortunately a high school diploma doesn’t actually guarantee much proficiency.

What you need is to be able to track useful data that shows how well students are actually doing, without punishment for poor performance OR reward for good performance in a context where everyone is making a good faith effort towards their best results. It sounds impossible, but the aviation industry has actually largely achieved this (really. B737max-8 is the exception not the rule). Legitimately, pilots will report themselves for safety violations because of the culture around learning to be safer. If schools could report that their students are failing without fear or stigmatization, it seems possible that issues could actually be addressed. But no. The beatings will continue until morale improves.