Most area school system’s beat state’s graduation rate

By Rachana Dixit and Brandon Shulleeta | 978-7263 | 978-7245
Published: October 8, 2008

Albemarle County students graduate on time at one of the highest rates in Virginia, according to state figures released Wednesday, but Charlottesville’s rate lags well below the state average.
The statistics from the Department of Education showed that 70.8 percent of students in Charlottesville public schools graduated on time — generally having entered ninth grade in 2004 and finished high school this year — compared with 87.2 percent in Albemarle.
Statewide, 81.3 percent of students graduated within four years.
Charlottesville was one of only three Central Virginia school systems that fell below the state average. Buckingham County struggled the most, reporting a rate of 68.5 percent, while Nelson County’s rate of 81 percent was only a fraction shy of the state average.
Fluvanna County fared the best overall, reporting an on-time graduation rate of 90 percent. Greene, Louisa, Madison and Orange all bested the state average.
This is the first year all Virginia schools have the same system of measurement for on-time graduation rates. The new numbers take into account transfer students and enrollment changes, which were not figured into previous graduation estimates, and recognize that some students are allowed more than four years to earn a diploma while still being “on-time” graduates.
Rosa S. Atkins, superintendent of Charlottesville schools, said the figures were expected because they are consistent with other graduation calculations. Before the new mechanism was put into place for this year, the city rate was pegged at 65 percent in 2007. The highest rate was 84 percent in 1999, but the previous figures do not account for students who graduated early or late, or for transfer students.
Rory Carpenter, prevention team leader for the Charlottesville-Albemarle Commission on Children and Families, said making sure students graduate on time has been a longstanding concern for the division.
“I don’t think it’s changed much,” he said.
In Charlottesville, on-time graduation percentages varied between male and female students, as well as among other demographics. About 76 percent of female students graduated on time in 2008, compared with about 66 percent of male students.
Asian students had the highest on-time graduation rate at 90 percent, and Hispanic students held the lowest, at about 44 percent. The rate for white and black students was 76 percent and 65 percent, respectively.
Atkins said the data will help school officials target their resources for programs, but those programs will not be set up based on students’ ethnicity or socio-economic status.
“It’s helping us to actually identify students who are not graduating with their cohort and the reasons,” she said. “I think the question is, what are the programs and supports that we need to put into place?”
Charlottesville school officials say they have bolstered remediation and intervention programs in recent years to support at-risk students.
“You’re going to see that effect in a few years,” said Atkins, referring to increased programs at the elementary and middle-school levels.
In the past, schools had more flexibility in how they reported their graduate rates, but strict state regulations implemented for this year’s report allow for “apples to apples” comparison, said Maury Brown, Albemarle County’s school communications coordinator.
“I thought we were pretty high. … The 87 percent is about where we thought we were,” said Luvelle Brown, Albemarle’s executive director of school and division improvement.
Division-wide, Albemarle surpassed the state average in on-time graduation rates in every student demographic, including homeless students and those with limited English proficiency. The on-time graduation rates for economically disadvantaged students, and those with disabilities, were about the same as the state average.
All of Albemarle’s high schools had on-time graduation rates that were significantly higher than the state average. However, Albemarle must remain focused on reaching an on-time graduation rate of 100 percent, Luvelle Brown said.
“With a global economy, having a high school diploma is a minimum requirement,” said Brown, who noted that there are some student groups that have fallen significantly behind.
Only 60 percent of economically disadvantaged students at Albemarle High graduated on time, for example, compared with a state average of 69.8 percent.
The on-time graduation rate for female students in Albemarle is about 6 percentage points higher than for males, in step with a statewide gender gap.
The gap in on-time graduation rates between black students and white students is far less pronounced in Albemarle than the state average. In the county, the rate is 88.2 percent for whites and 83.7 percent for blacks — compared with 85.3 percent and 72.6 percent for the entire state. Of all the races, Asian students had the highest on-time graduation rates in Albemarle — 96.6 percent. Hispanic students had the lowest, 75.8 percent.
Albemarle schools are taking numerous measures to help students graduate on time, Luvelle Brown said, such as allowing students to make up credits through online, summer or evening courses.