Graduation rates above state average

May 24, 2009

Ronica Shannon The Richmond Register Sun May 24, 2009, 01:23 AM EDT

All four of Madison County’s high schools’ graduation rates above the state average in 2008, according to the latest data from the Kentucky Department of Education.

Across the state, 84.52 percent of Kentucky high school students graduated in 2008, an increase of .8 percent over 2007.

In Madison County, Model Laboratory High School had the highest graduation rate at 98.08 percent, with Madison Southern next at 91.74 percent. Berea Community High School was third with a 91.03 percent rate, while Madison Central High School graduated 88.08 percent of students last school year.

Madison Southern posted the greatest increase in graduation rate, with a more than 2 percent increase over the 2006-07 school year. Graduation rates at Model and Berea decreased by 1.92 percent and 1.39 percent, respectively, the only two schools where rates declined from 2007.

Model Laboratory has had a 100-percent graduation rate for three consecutive years, however, a 1.92 percent decrease was reported for 2008.

The top three elementary schools with the best attendance records for 2008 were: Model Laboratory Elementary, 96.43 percent; White Hall Elementary, 96.06 percent; and Waco Elementary with 95.64 percent.

Those with lower attendance rates are: Berea Elementary, 94.01 percent; Mayfield Elementary, 94.14 percent; and Kingston Elementary, 94.49 percent.

The top three middle schools in the attendance category are: Model Laboratory Middle, 95.73 percent; Clark Moores Middle School, 94.41 percent; and Madison Middle School, 93.97 percent. The school with the lowest attendance rate is Berea Community Middle School, 93.59 percent.

High schools with the best attendance record are: Model Laboratory High, 95.13 percent; Madison Central, 93.24 percent; and Madison Southern, 91.82 percent. Berea Community High School had the lowest attendance rate at 90.74 percent.

Retention rates, or the number of students who were obligated to repeat the year’s instruction over again, were relatively low among Madison County elementary schools. The schools with the highest retention rates are: Glenn R. Marshall, .71 percent; Kirksville, .64 percent; and Kit Carson, .49 percent. Model Laboratory, Mayfield, Shannon Johnson, Daniel Boone, Kingston, Silver Creek, Waco and White Hall elementary schools all reported having no retention rate.

Among middle schools, those with the highest retention rates are: Madison Middle, .85 percent; Foley Middle, .26 percent; and Clark Moores Middle, .16 percent. Model Laboratory and Berea Community Middle reported having no retention rate.

Among high schools, Madison Central had the highest retention rate at 5.48 percent, Southern High School followed with a rate of 4.78 percent and Berea Community High School was among the lowest with a rate of 1.26 percent. Model Laboratory High School reported 0.

Dropout rates were highest at Madison Central High School, which had a rate of 2.45 percent. Central was followed by Southern High School where the dropout rate was 1.88 percent, and Berea Community Schools’ rate was .62, and Model Laboratory High School reported having a dropout rate of 0.

“Like always, our students do well with the nonacademic guidelines and standards that we’d like to meet,” said Donna Lovell, director of pupil personnel for Berea Community Schools. “Of course, there’s always room for improvement.”

The school district has done some really hard work to improve attendance and decrease the dropout rate, she said.

“We need to do some other things to make sure that the students are present and get an education,” she said. “We have improved a lot over the last two years with our dropout numbers and we hope to see more improvements next year. We’re working very hard to keep our students engaged.”

Randy Peffer, chief academic officer for Madison County schools, reported that graduation rates have increased at Madison Central and Madison Southern high schools; the district is well below the state dropout and retention averages and above the state average in attendance rates.

“It’s good news in all nonacademic indicators,” Peffer said.

Nonacademic data has been one component of the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS), which was ended by the passage of Senate Bill 1 in the 2009 session of the Kentucky General Assembly. However, graduation rates are required to be reported under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, and schools and districts are held accountable for meeting annual goals for graduation rates through NCLB.

James Dantic, Model Laboratory director did not return phone calls Friday.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 624-6608.

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