DeKalb County Schools’ four-year graduation rate slipped slightly between 2015 and 2016, with the state reporting a 70.3 graduation rate for the district from the last school year.
The district posted a 70.9 graduation rate last year, up more than 10 percentage points between 2013 and 2015.
The state's average graduation rate is up to 79.2 percent for 2016, up .4 percentage points from the previous year.
The increases come as Georgia has changed graduation test requirements and as many schools have increased the use of online classes in which many students earn credit without mastering the material. Georgia eliminated its High School Graduation Test starting with the class of 2015. Now high school students must take state tests in certain subjects, but they don’t have to pass the tests to graduate.
In recent years, many districts too have paid more attention to tracking down students who leave school before graduation in an effort to keep them in school—and avoid labelling them as dropouts which would bring down graduation rates.
Highlights for the DeKalb County School District include:
• Cross Keys High School saw an 18-point increase in its graduation rate, up to 73.8 in 2016
• Ten schools reported a lower graduation rate in 2016 than it had in 2015
• Four schools have graduation rates of 90 percent or more: Arabia Mountain (99.3), DeKalb School of the Arts (98.5), DeKalb Early College Academy (96.6) and Tucker High School (90.5)
• Four schools have graduation rates between 80 and 90 percent: Chamblee (85.8), Druid Hills (81.3), Redan (81) and Southwest DeKalb (80.2)
Find test scores, graduation rates and other critical information about any school at the new Ultimate Atlanta School guide.
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