Dougherty County School System touts uptick in high school graduation rates

ALBANY — All four high schools within the Dougherty County School System saw increased cohort graduation rates during the 2014-2015 school year, according to new data released by the Georgia Department of Education.

Albany High School, Dougherty Comprehensive High School, Monroe Comprehensive High School and Westover Comprehensive High School each saw the percentage of graduating seniors who entered as freshmen increase, with three of the four climbing above the state average.

“We’re pleased to see that our high school graduation rates are increasing,” Butch Mosely, superintendent of schools for the DCSS, said. “Some of our schools have come a long way in just a few years and, frankly, some of them still have a ways to go before we’ll consider ourselves satisfied with their progress. But I think this shows that things are headed in the right direction.

“I am extremely proud of our classroom teachers and administrators who were instrumental in this improvement.”

According to the data provided by GaDOE, Albany High’s graduation rate increased to 79 percent, a 2.4 percentage point increase over last year; Dougherty’s graduation rate increased to 70.9 percent, which is up 20.76 percentage points from last year’s number. Monroe’s rate hit 84.1 percent, which is an uptick of 21.9 percentage points, and Westover’s rate jumped the highest to 92 percent, which was an increase of 23.75 percentage points.

The state average, according to GaDOE officials, is 78.7 percent for the 2014-2015 school year, which is up from 72.7 percent the previous year.

“It is heartening to see that a variety of steps and initiatives taken three years ago and ongoing are yielding desired outcomes,” Ufot Inyang, DCSS’s associate superintendent for Academic Services, said. “Treating the issues of high dropouts, poor student record-keeping and coding, and a better job tracking students as priorities, the district put in place protocols and procedures to guide our high schools with a step-by-step process on the coding and monitoring of student information and progress.

“As a result, over the years, schools have done a tremendous job of tracking their students and monitoring dropouts. The coding of withdrawn students, for example, is more accurate, and as such the effect on the district’s dropout calculations has declined. In order to address the dropout rate in the district, the system adopted several innovative approaches, including offering additional avenues for students, especially those in danger of dropping out, to stay in school.”

Inyang said these opportunities, including the creation of the CCPLC (College and Career Performance Leaning Center); flexible learning to include blended and online learning opportunities/environments; aggressive post-secondary opportunities through dual enrollment with Albany Technical College, Darton State College and Albany State University, have also helped to reduce dropout rates, keep students in schools and ensure higher graduation rates.

“Schools have also done a better job monitoring their students’ progress and ensuring that they are responding in a timely fashion when students are off-track and in danger of not graduating on time. The cumulative result of all these steps is the increased graduation rates we are seeing,” he added.

According to the DCSS, the increases are attributable to four primary factors:

• The system has increased oversight of the student record-keeping process, which has limited the number of students who leave the system without the proper follow-up, a trend that is believed to have been artificially deflating the system’s graduation rates;

• Increased emphasis by high school principals and teachers on students to meet the academic requirements for graduation;

• Fewer high school dropouts;

• The end of the graduation test as a hurdle for graduation with the cohort.

The graduation rate as measured by the state tracks the number of graduating seniors who have met state requirements for a diploma within a four-year window. Students who leave the district but enroll at another school are not counted against their high school’s graduation rate; however, students who drop out without enrolling in another institution do count against their high school’s cohort graduation rate.