High School Graduation Rates

[dejr_8]

The graduation rate for our county high schools was just released. For the group that started in 2006, only ~78% graduated.

Is that unusual compared to other parts of the country?

 

[taylor3297]

No it isn't really. Also you need to figure out how your county figures graduation rates. Some counties graduation rates also include students who have moved. For example, if a child starts high school at a particular school then moves to another county or state, that child is considered a drop out or a non graduate in the school in which they started high school.

 

[kamik86]

Ok so thats 78% of incoming freshman graduated.

How does it count people that moved in or out of the system during those 4 years?

Even without the question above you have to remember that number counts any students that dropped out before graduation as well as those that actually failed out.

I would say it would be about right for a school that was actually letting kids fail if they should (my school had a tendency to do things like let students make up work they missed all year to get them to graduate etc if they were going to fail even though 99% of the time that worked missed was because they just didn't do their homework). I would think my high school numbers would have been like that espeically if anyone that failed our MCAS tests and thus weren't getting a full high school diploma didn't count as graduating either.

 

[Christine]

I don't know how my county calculates rates. It's presented as "on time graduation rate" = 84%.

Our worst high school had a rate of 74%. Our best high school was at 94%.

 

[dakcp2001]

My high school has a 57% rate. And instead of doing anything to help the school, the news is always about cutting teachers & cutting spending. It is a rather large urban HS, and I graduated with 380 ish people. If the entire incoming freshman class did make it to senior year, there wouldnt have been any room or teachers to handle it. It is shameful and I would never send my kids to the schools I went to.

 

[punkin]

83.1% for the county and 98% for DD's school. I have no idea how these numbers are calculated.

 

[kamik86]

If the entire incoming freshman class did make it to senior year, there wouldnt have been any room or teachers to handle it.

Hmmm I have never thought about this... I was in a small high school (our graduating class of 85 was the largest in years) We started with 140 so if we count kids that moved or switched schools our graduation rate was only 60% (it was a vocational school though so kids could switch out but not really come in unless they came from another vocational school and the shop they did at the old school had room, would switch out and go to the normal school for many reasons, not getting in the shop they wanted, deciding they wanted a career other then what they were doing for shop, failing any acedemic class with below a 50% even once made you ineligible to continue, failing shop at all, etc) Since the number of kids accepted each year (you have to apply and be accepted if not you go to either the normal high school or the charter school if you got in there) is equal to how many can fit in the shops (most shops take 15 or 16 per grade some like business can take more) we could handle everyone in the acedemic classes if everyone made it though.

However at a school as large as the PP I quoted from a 57% grad rate meant they started with about 665 students. Even increasing the graudation rate by 3% means almost another 20 students. That is almost another whole class. Granted some of those that didn't graduate would have still been there in there senior year, I know at my school most of the ones taht left were gone before the middle of junior year as they were then 16 so if they wanted to drop out they could or had made a decision on what they wanted to do for college and left if the school was no longer right for them.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Our district claims a graduation rate of 98%, but I'd be amazed if that number is an accurate statistical representation of what people think of as the graduation rate. As others above have posted, the numbers can vary based on how you include people that transfer in and out. The most common problem is that schools don't know for sure whether someone dropped out or moved. They often count drop outs as moves and so they fall out of the statistics. I would be more inclined to judge the school by things % of seniors that enroll in college, average SAT score, etc.

 

[czycropper]

Believe it or not, I live in one of the states with the highest graduation rates (82%) in the country - New Jersey. The district I live in has a 94% and the county overall has 97% rate. I guess we're lucky in that respect but we also pay some of the highest property tax rates in the country - I guess that's the trade-off! I'd like to see how those rates change in the next couple of years after all the education cuts that are to take effect this upcoming school year.

I know the rates since I've been on school principal/superintendent search committee.

 

[mjkacmom]

I just googled - ours is 99%, with a district average of 98%.

 

[mjkacmom]

Believe it or not, I live in one of the states with the highest graduation rates (82%) in the country - New Jersey. The district I live in has a 94% and the county overall has 97% rate. I guess we're lucky in that respect but we also pay some of the highest property tax rates in the country - I guess that's the trade-off! I'd like to see how those rates change in the next couple of years after all the education cuts that are to take effect this upcoming school year.

I know the rates since I've been on school principal/superintendent search committee.

Yep, NJ here too.

 

[tar heel]

That's about what ours is in Cabarrus County. You're in Chatham, right? Chapel Hill has a MUCH higher grad rate.

 

[NotUrsula]

Another thing that will affect it is the presence of nearby military installations. Kids in military families seldom make it the full four years in one high school.

I think what matters most is the dropout rate, not so much the graduation rate, because in most places that is not the same metric.

 

[georgina]

Our county has over 40 separate school districts, with a wide range of graduation rates. The last one I saw for the city of Pittsburgh was around 65%, our suburban district claims 96%.

 

[indimom]

Just checked. Ours is 90.2%. So, not too bad. Doesn't really surprise me, I figured it had to be in upper 80s at least because school is taken pretty seriously by the majority of parents in our community. I'd guess that enrollment in college or some other secondary school is moderately high for our graduates as well, but I couldn't find any statistics.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Believe it or not, I live in one of the states with the highest graduation rates (82%) in the country - New Jersey. The district I live in has a 94% and the county overall has 97% rate. I guess we're lucky in that respect but we also pay some of the highest property tax rates in the country - I guess that's the trade-off! I'd like to see how those rates change in the next couple of years after all the education cuts that are to take effect this upcoming school year.

I know the rates since I've been on school principal/superintendent search committee.

Texas claims a 96% overall graduation rate. The problem with all of these claims is that there isn't a good standard for how to measure graduation rates.

 

[golfgal]

Ok so thats 78% of incoming freshman graduated.

How does it count people that moved in or out of the system during those 4 years?

Even without the question above you have to remember that number counts any students that dropped out before graduation as well as those that actually failed out.

I would say it would be about right for a school that was actually letting kids fail if they should (my school had a tendency to do things like let students make up work they missed all year to get them to graduate etc if they were going to fail even though 99% of the time that worked missed was because they just didn't do their homework). I would think my high school numbers would have been like that espeically if anyone that failed our MCAS tests and thus weren't getting a full high school diploma didn't count as graduating either.

Usually what I have seen happen is if a student moves out of the district the are removed from the tabulations like they were never there but if a child drops out, they are considered not to have graduated.

Believe it or not, I live in one of the states with the highest graduation rates (82%) in the country - New Jersey. The district I live in has a 94% and the county overall has 97% rate. I guess we're lucky in that respect but we also pay some of the highest property tax rates in the country - I guess that's the trade-off! I'd like to see how those rates change in the next couple of years after all the education cuts that are to take effect this upcoming school year.

I know the rates since I've been on school principal/superintendent search committee.

Same here, I gladly pay our taxes for the top notch schools. Our district has a graduation rate of 99% as does our high school. Statewide it is 80% but if you take out the Minneapolis schools which only graduate about 48% that figure jumps into the 90% range. We also send 96% of our students on to a 4 year college which is also very telling statistic.

Texas claims a 96% overall graduation rate. The problem with all of these claims is that there isn't a good standard for how to measure graduation rates.

Some districts count the kids that start senior year and finish senior year as their graduation rates. A true grad rate though is counting those that start freshman year and those that graduate senior year.

 

[Kimberly]

My high school was over 99 percent graduation rate. I believe all but 2 of 136 students went to at least a 4 year state college (not that there is ANYTHING wrong with that). I don't think I could even fathom going to a school where everyone didn't at least graduate. High school wasn't exactly difficult, if you attended.

Source: http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/52699

 

[Colleen27]

Ours is 97%, but the state average is quite a bit lower. I don't think the way records are kept here makes for an accurate reporting, though, because it is strictly a comparison between the number of students in the class of whatever year as incoming freshmen and the number of students who graduate in that year. So districts that are losing population or losing students to magnets/schools of choice have artifically low graduation rates.

 

[golfgal]

Ours is 97%, but the state average is quite a bit lower. I don't think the way records are kept here makes for an accurate reporting, though, because it is strictly a comparison between the number of students in the class of whatever year as incoming freshmen and the number of students who graduate in that year. So districts that are losing population or losing students to magnets/schools of choice have artifically low graduation rates.

I doubt they are still counted if they move schools or out of the district.