Dougherty County School System enjoys increase in high school graduation rates

Twiggs County has the state’s largest jump in their graduation rate at 34 points.

Mt. Zion began the program in 2012 and the remaining county high schools implemented it one year later. Gordon Lee High School was close behind at 97.3%, along with North Murray High School at 97.2%. Polk County’s rate took the biggest leap from 69 percent to 81.1 percent.

The Cobb high schools with the highest graduation rates for 2015 – Walton, Harrison, Lassiter, Pope and Hillgrove – are all in east or west Cobb. “This 83 percent four-year graduation rate is the highest RCPS percentage since the adoption of the nationwide cohort model for measuring on-time graduation across the country”.

In Bibb County, Hutchings College and Career Academy improved almost 28 percentage points year over year, and Central High School improved by more than 19 percentage points. In Whitfield County, Northwest High School has the highest rate at 93.9%, followed by Southeast High at 90.7% and Coahulla Creek at 86.3%.

The state established the four-year cohort system for calculating high school graduation rates in 2011.

Hancock, Wilkinson and Washington counties had the region’s highest graduation rates in 2015; Dooly and Bibb counties and the city of Dublin school district had the lowest.

“I won’t be totally pleased until we’ve got 100 percent of them graduating, but I think that we are once again making progress”, she said.

Carrollton High School Principal Dr. Mark Albertus took note that Carrollton had again posted the higher numbers than the state average. “We have our work cut out for us, but I believe our students, teachers and leaders are up to the challenge”.

This is the fifth year Georgia has calculated the graduation rate using the adjusted cohort rate, which is now required by the U.S. Department of Education.

In addition to the district, all three high schools individually surpassed Georgia’s graduation rate this year. “Treating the issues of high drop-outs, poor student record keeping/coding and a better job tracking students, as priorities, the district put in place protocols and procedures to guide our high schools with a step by step process on the coding and monitoring of student information and progress”, said Dr. Ufot Inyang, associate superintendent for Academic Services.

There is evidence that focusing less on testing, and more on career education and personalized paths to graduation, opens up opportunities for students. Another Sandy Springs school, Riverwood, ranked second among local schools with a rate of 89.6 percent. “An increase in the number of students graduating is rewarding news for our school district and we will continue to work in collaboration to focus on improving students’ academic performance”.

“This is a day of celebration for our school system, our community, and the families of each additional graduate who has crossed the stage to receive a high school diploma”, proclaimed George Bevels, chairman of the Floyd County Board of Education. “Georgia still has a few of the highest requirements in the nation for students to graduate with a regular diploma”.