The Cherokee County School District’s four-year graduation rate increased for the Class of 2014 and continues to exceed State averages. The School District’s four-year graduation rate of 82% for 2014, up from 78% for 2013, made CCSD the second-highest ranked metro Atlanta county school system, according to data released today by the Georgia Department of Education. This rate also exceeds the State four-year rate of 72%. In addition to the School District’s four-year graduation rate increasing by four points, every CCSD high school’s rate remained steady or increased, with Cherokee HS steady at 72%, Creekview HS increasing from 87% to 89%, Etowah HS steady at 83%, River Ridge HS increasing from 84% to 91%, Sequoyah HS increasing from 77% to 87% and Woodstock HS increasing from 80% to 81%. These increases can be attributed not only to the continuation of successful strategies developed over the past 16 years to ensure every student completes high school and is prepared for success in college and/or careers, but also to a number of strategies to ensure students graduate on time, as implemented at the recommendation of the Superintendent’s Ad Hoc Graduation Rate Committee. These improvements began with the Superintendent’s appointment of a District-wide Graduation Coach, who is based primarily at Cherokee HS, the school with the greatest population of at-risk students; and continued with: sharing of “best practices” among high school Principals and counselors to improve intervention and graduation data tracking practices; increased offering of online credit recovery courses and pursuing grants to fund scholarships for these courses; enhanced training for school staff on State reporting requirements; targeting graduation rate as a component of School Improvement Plans and Innovation Zone initiatives; and the development of a successful pilot program at Cherokee HS – CHOICES -- to provide tutoring, mentoring and other additional services to aid Special Education students in earning regular education diplomas. This is the fourth year the Georgia DOE has used a more challenging adjusted cohort formula to calculate graduation rates in the State. The cohort begins when a student is a freshman; the previous formula defined the cohort upon graduation and included students who took more than four years to graduate from high school. “While we are enthusiastic about the increased graduation rate, we remain committed to supporting every student who is not included in this total… as it’s important to note that the inverse of these rates is not a ‘dropout’ rate,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank R. Petruzielo. “The students not counted by the State’s formula in the four-year rate include many of our most challenged… such as those who take longer than four years and one semester to graduate due to serious illness or the need to work to support their family, those who choose to pursue a GED and those who earn a Special Education diploma.” We support these and other non-traditional students by continuing to provide them with choices to assist them in reaching the goal of graduation through such options as: ACE Academy, our alternative day middle school/high school program; Polaris Evening Program, our evening high school program; C3 Academy, our expanded online middle school/high school program; Summer School initial credit and credit recovery courses; and the expansion of the pilot CHOICES program at Cherokee HS, which now is serving twice as many students this school year as last year. “Graduation is the culmination of many years of hard work by not only students, but also the parents, grandparents, teachers, counselors, administrators, support staff, business partners and volunteers who together prepare every one of our community’s children for future success no matter the path they choose,” Petruzielo said.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 14:29:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015