The graduation rate at Warsaw Community High School for 2011 compared to 2010 has increased, according to Assistant Principal Steve Ferber at the school board meeting Monday night.
And Warsaw Community School Chief Accountability Officer Tom Kline reported the numbers for the Advanced Placement program also are on the upswing.
For the class of 2011 at WCHS, 88.84 percent graduated, up about 5 percent from 83.92 percent in 2010.
Ferber said a graduate is any student who earns a diploma in four years or less. A cohort is the group of students from which the graduation rate is calculated. All students who were reported by a school as first-time ninth-graders on the pupil enrollment report three years prior to the year being calculated are placed in the cohort.
The WCS graduating class of 2011 included 406 graduates. In the 2011 cohort, 132 students earned Academic Honors, compared to 103 in 2010. Fifteen received Technical Honors (six in 2010), 203 earned Core 40 diplomas (199 in 2010) and 76 earned a general diploma (109 in 2010).
“You can see the numbers have gone up,” Ferber said.
A general diploma is 42 credits, and the Core 40 is the minimum curriculum colleges and universities expect for acceptance. Academic Honors is Core 40 with additional credits in specified areas, while Technical Honors is Core 40 with additional eight or more credits in the career and technical program.
“We feel like we’re moving the right way with our Academic Honors diplomas,” Ferber said.
In 2011, there were six fifth-year graduates, compared to 15 in 2010. Three earned certificates of completion, compared to eight in 2010; five earned GEDs in 2011, compared to seven in 2010; and three students were retained in 2011, compared to 16 in 2010. Students in these categories are not recognized by the Indiana Department of Education as graduates, however.
The state has not released its graduation rate average yet for 2011. However, in 2010, the state average was 84.1 percent, which is lower than Warsaw’s 2011 graduation rate of 88.84 percent, “so we are above the average,” Ferber said.
Warsaw’s 2011 drop-out rate was 5.4 percent, compared to 4.5 percent in 2010.
Looking at the graduation trend for Warsaw, the graduation rate in 2007 was 71.9 percent; 80.6 percent in 2008; 74.9 percent in 2009; 83.92 percent in 2010; and 88.84 percent in 2011.
Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz said Warsaw is within the state target rate of 90 percent graduation. When one looks at the progress Warsaw has made with its graduation rate, he said, it surely is commendable.
All the schools within the WCS played a part in that, Ferber said.
“It’s a joint effort but I think we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.
Kline reported on the five-year trend of the AP program at WCHS.
AP is a program offered by the College Board. AP exams are rigorous, multiple-component tests administered at high schools each May. High school students can earn college credit, advanced placement or both for qualifying AP exam scores. Each AP exam has a corresponding AP course and provides a standardized measure of what students have learned in the classroom.
According to Kline, research shows that AP students are more likely to graduate from college in four years. AP students who prepare for and take the AP tests show the greatest improvement in SAT testing.
For 2011-12, Warsaw offers AP courses in Calculus AB, chemistry, English language composition, English language literature, European history, U.S. government and politics, physics B, U.S. history, studio art, Calculus BC, biology, micro-economics, human geography and Spanish.
In 2007, WCHS had 49 AP students taking the exam, with 30 passing. That steadily increased to 165 AP students taking the exam in 2011 with 93 passing. The number of AP tests taken increased 337 percent over that four years, with the number of students who passed an AP test increased by 310 percent, Kline said.
Hintz said at the high school, the AP exam was an option because there was an AP exam and a final course exam. From his previous experience, Hintz believes the AP exam is the final exam for the course. Last school year, if a student took the AP exam they could skip the final course exam. A recommendation will be brought before the school board in the future that all students who take an AP course will sit for the final AP exam.
Each AP exam has a cost of about $86. The state does pay for some fees for some exams, Hintz said. For students who can not afford the exam costs, part of the recommendation that will be brought before the board will be a plan to help cover the exam fees for students who may not be able to pay for it.
