Local superintendents respond to new method of calculation

Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed Tuesday released the official state and local high school graduation rates for 2006.

Final data, using a new formula for a four-year study, shows about three-quarters (76.5 percent) of eligible Indiana students earned a high school diploma in 2006.

Graduation rates for area high schools compared to the state average of 76.5 percent as follows:

Manchester - 81 percent

Tippecanoe Valley -Ê73.2 percent

Triton - 85.1 percent

Warsaw Community - 76.9

Wawasee - 71.8

Whitko - 79.2

Graduation statistics may appear lower than in past years, due to a difference in what's included in the new graduation rates.

The class of 2006 is the first group of Hoosier students that could be followed using the new state formula. Adopted by the Indiana General Assembly in 2003, the new formula begins by establishing a class of first-time freshmen that expands and contracts as students transfer in and out of school during the years that follow. This measure is made possible using unique student identification numbers to track each student's progress since entering high school in 2002.

Excluded from the new graduation rates are: those obtaining GEDs, special education certificates, students still in school at the end of the four-year period, those who satisfactorily completed all credit courses but did not pass the final test and those who were homeschooled.

Looking at the information recently provided on Wawasee by the IDOE, the 28.2 percent excluded from the graduation percentage included 5.2 percent still in school, 1 percent who completed the necessary courses but didn't officially graduate, 3.4 percent who received special education certificates and 4.5 percent receiving GEDs, which leaves only 14.1 percent who dropped out or left for unknown reasons.

Area high schools already are addressing these concerns.

Warsaw Community High School will not reconvene until Monday, and no one could be reached for further comment.

Two areas of common concern are reaching out to students earlier, especially at the freshman level, and actively addressing remediation needs to get the students more involved in school and in step with other students. Several offer and are expanding alternative school programs.

Manchester Jr.-Sr. High School (81 percent graduation rate) is taking a little different approach by implementing two new state-supported initiatives designed to match education to job skills and work ethics.

Superintendent Diana Showalter said, "We're setting the stage to help students understand that education is important, and it takes commitment from parents, the community and business people - everyone working together to understand the programs being implemented at the high school and junior high."

Career days will be held at both schools, and sophomores will participate in job shadowing through "QUEST days."

Work Keys, a state program, involves communicating with business to develop educational standards for specific skills needed in business.

The other state program involves addressing work ethics starting in the junior and senior years. Components include: attendance, respect, community service projects and grades, under the direction of a teacher sponsor. At the end of the school year, students will be evaluated to receive a work ethic certificate.

Showalter said, "We're addressing what businesses want to see in addition to a high school diploma.

Of Manchester's higher graduation rate, Showalter said, " The bottom line is we're proud to be above the state average, but we still need to establish goals for improvement and try to get there."

Tippecanoe Valley High School (73.2 percent graduation rate) is one of the area schools addressing the need to work with students earlier, especially freshmen.

According to Principal Kirk Doehrman, "We looking at partnering with Burket in an alternative learning program for kids who can't make it in the traditional school setting. We've had good results with them in the past.

"We're trying to catch kids earlier, especially intervention with freshmen, to gets more interested at an earlier age. Kids are more inclined to graduate if they become involved in school activities at an earlier age.

"Next year we're looking at smaller learning communities for freshmen, keeping them in groups together without upperclassmen. We're also going to provide peer mentors for incoming freshmen so they have positive role models to start out."

With the highest graduation rate (85.1 percent) in the area Triton Jr.-Sr. High School Principal Mike Chobanov said, "Our enrollment stays the same. We don't have a lot of students transferring in and out. Prior to the new way (of calculating graduation percentages), we were at 90-plus percent." He also noted that homeschoolers are not considered in the state calculation.

Triton uses the Plato software program to identify students' remediation and acceleration needs. Once students' needs are identified, they work independently in the Plato lab, with a teacher monitoring their work.

Failure to pass the GQE on the ISTEP tests also results in students, sophomores through seniors and freshmen if space permits, being placed in the program for remediation.

Chobanov said, "We also use the program for students who transfer in from schools under trimester systems to adjust to the semester schedule and keep up their skills until the next semester starts."

Wawasee High School, with the area's lowest graduation rate (71.8 percent), also is targeting freshmen and expanding alternative education programs through Wawasee Academy.

Wawasee Superintendent Dr. Mark Stock said, "We've expanded the alternative school program in recent years, with credit retrieval classes that students attend before and after school and sometimes with Saturday computer classes."

A score of 80 percent is required to pass these classes to get the credits for continuation in regular school.

Stock said, "We want to keep people on track with graduation.

"This year we tried a freshman academy for students with some difficulty in the past. They were kept together for all three trimesters and participated in smaller classes using innovative teaching strategies."

Stock recently responded to controversy over high school dropout rates and the new calculations by looking specifically at Wawasee's class of 2006. He published his comments and statistics on his Weblog.

He said, "It has been popular ... to publish dropout rate statistics using exiting eighth graders or incoming ninth graders and projecting those numbers out to the senior year and claim that those not 'graduating' are 'dropouts.' Using the (new) methods, this year's senior class at Wawasee would have what looks like a 74 percent graduation rate and/or a 26 percent dropout rate. These methods ignore the complexity of modern circumstances.

"In the spring of 2002, there were 275 students leaving eighth grade. In the fall of 2002 there were 282 incoming freshmen.

"In the spring of 2006 there are 208 graduating seniors from that incoming class. On the surface, that looks like a 74 percent graduation rate and/or a 26 percent dropout rate.

"However, here is the rest of the story: 12 students received certificates of completion or attendance; seven were students with diagnosed special learning needs; five were foreign exchange students; 18 students are still in the Alternative School working on the diploma track or working on a GED. They may graduate - just not in four years; six have already earned a GED; four are working on the GED somewhere else; one student passed away; 29 transferred to other schools; 14 transferred into WHS and graduated on time this year; 14 of the 208 graduating received their diploma through the Wawasee Academy; one was expelled and never returned; 12 students left or disappeared and we withdrew them eventually without receiving a transfer request; five dropped out (through the exit interview process)."

Factoring in these circumstances, Stock said, Wawasee's 2006 graduation rate would be in a range of 88 to 94 percent.

Stock added, "The most amazing statistic is that 93 percent of the 208 students graduating were here for all four years."

Statewide breakdown

According to the IDOE, more than half of all schools (56.2 percent) graduated greater than 80 percent of their students.

Although the majority (66 percent) of schools met or exceeded the state graduation rate in 2006, rates varied significantly from school to school statewide.

The breakdown by percentage groups is topped by two Indiana high schools (Medora Jr./Sr. High School and New Harmony High School), which showed a 100 percent graduation rate. Following is the breakdown:

• 100 percent - two schools (0.6 percent).

• 90-99.9 percent - 42 schools (11.6 percent).

• 80-89.9 percent - 159 schools, including Manchester and Triton, (44 percent).

• 70-79.9 percent - 98 schools, including Tippecanoe Valley, Warsaw Community, Wawasee and Whitko, (27.1 percent).

• 60-69.9 percent - 34 schools (9.4 percent)

• 50-59.9 percent - 11 schools (3 percent).

• Less than 50 percent - 15 schools (4.2 percent). [[In-content Ad]]