Muscogee County high school graduation rates set records. Also see Harris, ChattCo results
The Muscogee County School District has achieved its highest graduation rate since the state started reporting results based on its current calculation 12 years ago.
MCSD’s 2024 high school graduation rate of 94.1% is 0.6 percentage points higher than 2023, the school district announced Tuesday.
The public high schools in Columbus also surpassed the state average (85.4%) for the 12th straight year and the national average (87% in 2022, the latest figure available) for the 10th straight year.
“We applaud our graduating Class of 2024 for their perseverance and hard work that yielded another all-time high for our district that once again exceeds the state rate,” MCSD superintendent David Lewis said in the news release. “Coupled with the SAT results released last month that also surpassed state and national averages, the MCSD Class of 2024 is a distinguished cohort of full-option graduates. These results are also a testament to their families and the many educators and other adults who supported them throughout their educational careers.”
Lewis attributes the steady improvement to “more intentional efforts in identifying and monitoring students as early as middle school who are not on track to graduate on time.”
“We then provide them with additional support, resources, and encouragement toward attaining this important educational milestone,” he said.
In 2011, Georgia started using what’s called a four-year cohort to calculate graduation rates, as required by the U.S. Department of Education. So this statistic measures the percentage of students who graduate from high school within four years.
When the MCSD board hired Lewis in 2013, the district’s graduation rate was 72.8%.
Muscogee County high school graduation rates
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 96.6%, down by 0.3
- Shaw 94.9%, up by 0.6
- Jordan 92.6%, down by 2.3
- Kendrick 92.2, up by 2.2
- Hardaway 92.1%, up by 1.7
- Carver 90.4, down by 0.4
- Spencer 90.2, up by 4.8
All nine MCSD high schools have a graduation rate above the state and national averages. Four of them recorded their highest graduation rate in the 12 years of the new calculation: Hardaway, Kendrick, Shaw and Spencer.
Harris County’s high school graduation rate counties
Harris County’s graduation rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 90.5% compared to last year. That result continues a recent trend of up-and-down graduation rates for HCSD:
- 2019: 93.3%
- 2020: 89.2%
- 2021: 92.1%
- 2022: 90.7%
- 2023: 90.8%
- 2024: 90.5%.
But the Harris County School District uses the combined four-year and five-year graduation rates to monitor its progress. According to that measurement, HCSD increased its graduation rate by 0.4 percentage points to 91.3% from 2023 to 2024.
“We are further pleased to see the 5% increase in the graduation rate of our Economically Disadvantaged subgroup, and the 4.61% increase in that of our Black subgroup,” Donna Patterson, HCSD’s secondary curriculum and instruction director, told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.
Noting the four-year graduation rate for HCSD’s white and Hispanic subgroups “slightly declined,” Patterson said, “This will be cause for analysis and evaluation of our support systems that we have in place. However, they still remained above the state targets in their respective areas.”
With only one high school in Harris County, Patterson said, “we make a concerted effort to inspire a hugely diverse population of students to attain the goal of high school graduation, starting on their first day of attendance at Harris County High School. It is a uniquely rewarding experience to successfully meet the academic needs of such a vast group of young people.”
Chattahoochee County’s high school graduation rate
Chattahoochee County’s dropped by 6 percentage points to 89%. The decline is ChattCo’s second straight after reaching its record high of 96.8% in 2022.
ChattCo superintendent Kristie Brooks, however, noted the district’s combined four-year and five-year graduation rate is 91%.
“Overall, we are pleased with the continued positive outcomes toward enrollment, employment or enlistment that our graduates are experiencing due to achieving the milestone of obtaining a meaningful high school diploma,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.
To accomplish that goal, Brooks said, ChattCo continues to “focus our efforts on creating opportunities that ensure each student is involved in courses that allow them to successfully complete a career pathway as this work prepares our young adults in becoming productive contributors of society.”
ChattCo students have a daily advisement period for instruction in financial literacy, soft skill development and other “real world” skill building, Brooks said.
“I remain pleased that our teachers are building the relationships needed to help our students explore future opportunities to gain independence and economic mobility,” she said.
ChattCo is working to strengthen its “internal processes,” Brooks said.
“As a highly transient school district, it is imperative that we have clear enrollment and withdrawal processes not only to assist our transient, military families in having what is needed for their child but to also ensure our employees consistently review transcripts and such so every child experiences a seamless school experience.
“Our goal is that each student who has been part of our ChattCo family reaches graduation ready to excel in their next chapter of life regardless of where their family relocates/PCS.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2024 at 1:15 PM.
