Albany, Monroe high school recognized for increased graduation rates

ALBANY — Two Dougherty County School System high schools have outpaced most of their colleagues in Georgia when it comes to improving their graduation rates, a recent teacher trade magazine has noted.

In the June edition of PAGE One, the official magazine of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, Albany High School and Monroe Comprehensive High School were listed among schools that had improved their graduation rates the most between 2011 and 2014.

According to the data, which PAGE cites as having come from the Georgia Department of Education, Albany had the state’s ninth greatest jump in graduation rate, having improved its rate 41 percent since the state adopted new graduation reporting standards in 2011. Monroe posted a 31 percent increase since 2011 – an improvement good enough to put it among the top 20 high schools in that category in the state.

According to the data used by PAGE, Albany High improved its graduation rate from 54.5 to 76.6 over the four-year period. Monroe went from 47.4 in 2011 to 62.3 in 2014.

“There’s a lot of hard work being done at these two schools and all of our schools,” DCSS Superintendent Butch Mosely said. “Improvement is what we’re working to see and even though our schools have come a long way, we expect to see even better numbers coming down the pike.”

In 2011, Georgia changed the way it reported graduation rates. That was the first year that schools had to report how many students graduated with their class, or cohort, after having entered high school as ninth graders.

Data for the 2014-15 school year is still being tabulated and projected totals will be released in sometime this month from the DCSS’ four high schools after summer school graduation numbers are figured in.