Muscogee County sets record as 2021 Georgia high school graduation rates are released
The Muscogee County School District has achieved its highest graduation rate since the state started using its current calculation nine years ago, according to the data released Thursday by the Georgia Department of Education.
MCSD’s 2021 high school graduation rate of 91.2% is 1.8 percentage points higher than 2020.
Muscogee surpassed the state average for the ninth straight year and the national average for the seventh straight year.
Georgia’s 2021 graduation rate is 83.7%, down 0.1 percentage points from 2020 but up 14 percentage points since 2012.
The latest national high school graduation rate available from the National Center for Education Statistics is 86% from the 2018-19 school year, a gain of 1 percentage point compared to the previous year.
The current formula for the graduation rate, required by the U.S. Department of Education, is called the four-year adjusted cohort rate. That measures the percentage of students who graduate from high school within four years.
Out of MCSD’s nine high schools, five improved their graduation rate, three remained the same, and one dropped. Each of them surpassed the state average, and six surpassed the national average.
Here are the graduation rates for each MCSD high school compared to last year:
- Columbus 100%, remained the same.
- Rainey-McCullers 100%, remained the same.
- Northside 96.3%, up by 2.8.
- Carver 92.3%, remained the same.
- Shaw 91.8%, up by 0.4.
- Hardaway 89.8%, up by 0.2.
- Jordan 86.4%, up by 5.3.
- Spencer 85.2%, up by 2.2.
- Kendrick 84.4%, down by 1.
The graduation rates for Carver, Jordan, Northside and Shaw are their highest in the nine years the current formula has been used.
MCSD’s graduation rate of 91.2% also surpasses the other school districts serving the second-tier cities in Georgia with similar size and demographics: Chatham County (Savannah) 90.1%, Bibb County (Macon) 80.7% and Richmond County (Augusta), 73.8%.
Referring to the difficulty of educating students during the COVID-19 pandemic, MCSD superintendent David Lewis said in a news release, “Despite the many challenges associated with this last year, we congratulate our school communities, graduates, district support teams and families for their hard work and resilience resulting in this historic high grad rate.”
Lewis added, “The steady improvement in grad rate and positive trends in reducing student subgroup gaps, along with incremental improvements on the SAT and ACT, are indicative of our district’s progress toward excellence and equity of opportunity that are consequential for future student and community outcomes.”
Harris County
Compared to last year, the Harris County School District’s graduation rate increased by 2.9 percentage points to 92.1%. The improvement comes after HCSD’s 2020 rate dropped by 4.1 percentage points to 89.2%.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the district has used federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to provide extra resources for students “on the bubble of graduating,” HCSD said in a news release.
“To be successful, we need to make sure we identify struggling students and provide needed support,” Dave Dennie, HCSD assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said in the news release.
Chattahoochee County
Compared to last year, the Chattahoochee County School District’s graduation rate increased by 5.3 percentage points to 93.6%, a record high for ChattCo.
“The focus on providing a personalized, learning environment and building strong relationships with all students continues to yield great results in terms of positive student outcomes,” ChattCo superintendent Kristie Brooks told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.
ChattCo’s graduation rate for each demographic subgroup exceeds the state average, Brooks noted.
“We continue to reflect on our ‘OneHeartBeat’ mantra,” she said, “and the graduation rate is another example of the focus and support ChattCo provides to every child.”
Brooks praised the support students receive at home and in the community.
“Graduation begins with the family and school becoming partners as early as elementary school,” she said. “We are so fortunate that our community of Cusseta and Fort Benning support education and expect excellence. As we continue our journey to constantly seek ways to better serve our students, we look forward to the day when we celebrate a 100% rate for all students.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2021 at 5:01 PM.
