Every Columbus public high school improves graduation rate

Graduation rates improved at every local high school this year, led by the only one that declined last year.

After dipping 2.7 percentage points, from 61.3 to 58.6, between 2013 and 2014, Carver High School's graduation rate soared 17.8 percentage points, to 76.4 in 2015. It is the largest gain among local schools this past year, according to data the Georgia Department of Education released Monday.

"The news was confirmation of the hard work and commitment by all employees at G.W. Carver High School, along with Central Office Support staff," Carver principal Chris Lindsey wrote in an email responding to the Ledger-Enquirer's questions. "We worked extremely hard to keep our students in school and on track to graduate because many of them are faced with countless challenges at home."

All of Carver's 1,200 students, including its 230 graduates out of the 301-student cohort that began high school four years ago, were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch as of October 2014, the latest poverty data available from the state.

Asked what Carver has done to achieve such improvement in its graduation rate, Lindsey wrote, "We used unlimited resources to increase our graduation rate to include Alumni, Title One Funds, Partners In Education, Academic Credit Recovery and Increased Learning Time (ILT was used during the 2014-15 school year)."

Early College Academy of Columbus led the way in Muscogee County in overall graduation rate with 100 percent, meaning all 46 members of the cohort that began high school four years ago graduated in 2015.

The local school districts again surpassed the state average. While the average graduation rate in Georgia improved 6.3 percentage points, from 72.5 to 78.8, Muscogee County's jumped 8.0 percentage points, from 76.6 to 84.6; Harris County's increased 2.5 percentage points, from 87.4 to 89.9; and Chattahoochee County's surged 9.0 percentage points, from 74.3 to 83.3.

During the past three years, Muscogee County has increased its graduation rate by 11.8 percentage points, from 72.8 to 84.6, while the state's rate has increased by 7.0 points, from 71.8 to 78.8.

"The graduation rate is one of the most significant performance indicators for any school or district as it reflects successful completion and is the culmination of a child's Pre-K-12 educational experience," David Lewis, superintendent of the Muscogee County School District, said in a news release. "As a large urban school system, the improvements by all schools, leading to the highest four-year graduation cohort rate in the history of the district, represents a significant step forward for our students, their future and our community."

Along with Carver, other MCSD schools to increase their graduation rate by more than the state's gain of 6.3 percentage points are Jordan (14.9, from 63.1 to 78.0), Spencer (12.6, from 66.0 to 78.6), Shaw (9.4, from 76.0 to 85.4) and Kendrick (8.8, from 69.4 to 78.2). Although they closed the gap, Carver, Jordan, Kendrick and Spencer remain below the state's average graduation rate of 78.8.

In the MCSD news release, Lewis' administration attributed the improvement to "the hard work of our teachers, students, support staff and parents."

The release mentioned the following initiatives MCSD has implemented during the past year:

The dropout recovery program called Catapult Academy.

The online Early Warning System, which alerts parents about concerns related to their children's grades, attendance, discipline and test scores.

The reorganization of the central office, which has added regional and school support personnel to focus on the graduation rate.

School administrators and staff are using "refined procedures" to monitor student enrollment and more accurately report graduation data.

"The new, more challenging Georgia standards and related assessments require continued focus to ensure all students are college and career ready and globally competitive upon graduation," Lewis said in the release.

"We embrace the more rigorous standards and assessments. We recognize the need for continuous improvement as we strive to maintain and continue to improve our graduation rate."

MCSD's comparison group, comprising districts similar in size and poverty rate, included the counties of Bibb, Chatham, Douglas, Hall, Houston, Newton and Richmond last school year. This school year's comparison group hasn't been determined yet, said Patrick Knopf, MCSD's director of research, accountability and assessment.

Nonetheless, MCSD's 84.6 percent graduation rate compares well in last school year's group, ranking third, behind Douglas 88.2 and Houston 84.9, followed by Hall 83.7, Newton 81.5, Chatham 81.3, Richmond 77.6 and Bibb 71.2.

This is the first graduating class not required to pass the Georgia High School Graduation Tests since the high-stakes exams were phased out. Knopf acknowledged that could have factored into the significant improvements locally and statewide.

Chattahoochee County

ChattCo continued its remarkable momentum. Since 2012, it has boosted its graduation rate by 23.1 percentage points.

Principal Jim Sims credits the students' desire to graduate and the staff's dedication to help them.

"Being a small school (458 students) we really have a family type atmosphere, and our teachers truly care whether our students graduate," Sims wrote in an email to the L-E. "It is not just our Senior level teachers, it's our entire staff working with and providing tutoring and remediation opportunities throughout the year."

That extra academic help extends to all grade levels, Sims added.

Despite the improvement, ChattCo superintendent David McCurry wrote in an email that "Chattahoochee County Schools cannot be satisfied until every student receives a diploma. As a school district we need to continue to develop and implement innovative instructional practices early that will give students a strong foundation to build on."

Harris County

Harris County School District chief information officer Jeff Branham, on behalf of superintendent Jimmy Martin, noted that "increased graduation rate" is a stated goal in the high school's improvement plan.

In an email, Branham praised "the hard work of our students and teachers" for the improvement.

"Of course we would like for every student that comes through our system to graduate," he wrote. "Even as we celebrate our increased graduation rate, we know that our students have limitless potential and we owe it to all of them to work together so they all can achieve the goal of a high school diploma."

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkRiceLE.

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 9:02 PM with the headline "Every Columbus public high school improves graduation rate ."