Fayette graduation rates rank third in metro Atlanta

Fayette County’s high school graduation rate remains the third highest in metro Atlanta, despite being down 1.6 % from last year, according to records released on Oct 22. But the county’s overall rate of 89.7% is still 6% above the state’s 83.7% average. Fayette has the seventh highest graduation rate in Georgia compared to other school systems with graduating classes of more than 1,000 students.

Fayette County High was the only school to see a rate increase, up 1.2% from last year to 84.9%. Principal Yolanda Briggs-Johnson credited the bump to educational initiatives that offered extra instructional support time to students. Starr’s Mill High’s graduation rate was 94.3%, followed by Whitewater at 94.1%, McIntosh at 90.6% and Sandy Creek at 83.2%.

Those numbers put Starr’s Mill and Whitewater in the state’s top 10%, McIntosh in the top 18%, Fayette County in the top 28% and Sandy Creek in the top 30% among the 446 high schools in the state that reported rates.