New graduation formula helps boost rates

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

Clark County School District officials, using a new formula for calculating graduation rates, say the number of students who finished high school was up 1.2 percent for the 2003-04 academic year.

Of the class of 2004 enrolled in school in June, 84.2 percent earned either a regular diploma, adjusted diploma for special education students or adult education diploma. That's an increase of 1.2 percent over the graduation rate for the class of 2002-03, said Sue Daellenbach, director of testing for the district.

This is the first year the district has calculated graduation rates using spring enrollment figures. The Nevada Department of Education tabulates graduation rates using data spanning a period of four years -- a method recommended by the National Center for Education Statistics.

The state Education Department's formula -- which does not count adjusted diplomas given to special education students -- put Clark County's graduation rate for 2002-03 at 72 percent. The statewide graduation rate for the same academic year was 75 percent.

Rather than computing the graduation rate over a four-year period, from freshman enrollment to senior graduation, Clark County looked only at a "snapshot in time," Daellenbach said.

With 35 percent of the district's students switching campuses at least once over the course of a school year, the four-year formula is less accurate, Daellenbach said. It makes more sense to determine the graduation rate from the number of students enrolled at the end of their junior year in June to the number that graduate by the end of the next summer, Daellenbach said.

In order to provide an "apples to apples" comparison, Daellenbach said she went back to the 2002-03 raw data for the district and recalculated the graduation rate using the new formula. It put the district's graduation rate at 83 percent for that year, Daellenbach said.

Districtwide, graduation rates varied widely between individual schools. Some high schools, such as the Community College high schools, saw graduation rates of 100 percent, but others, such as Rancho High School, saw graduation rates as low as 68 percent.

"Anything less than 100 percent is unacceptable," Deputy Superintendent Agustin Orci said. "We want every kid to pass."

The school district is trying to address the disparity between schools through several initiatives, Orci said, and the improved graduation rates at several schools show they are working.

"We're just generally pleased that some of the iniatives we started are starting to pay off," Orci said. "We're seeing some good trends in the primary grades, and I think it will be like a wave going through the system that as these kids come up, they'll just keep doing better and better."

The lower graduation rates are directly linked to the difficulty some students have in passing the proficiency tests, especially in math, Orci said. The district has a greater percentage of students passing all of their high school courses, but those numbers are not added to the graduation rate because they fail one or more of the three proficiency tests needed to earn their diplomas.

The school district has placed greater emphasis on helping students pass the tests as sophomores, Orci said, and has also made algebra mandatory in the eight grade to help students with the math proficiency. He also believes that the district's implementation of full-day Kindergarten in the district's neediest schools would better prepare those students for the upper grades and aid in increasing the overall graduation rate.

Clark High School Principal Ronnie Tee Smith said he has challenged his current seniors to raise the 77.5 percent graduation rate in 2004 by 10 percent. The school has a "wall of fame" set up with photographs of every 2004 graduate, showing where they are now attending college, Smith said.

"That board says what our school is all about -- it's expected that everyone will go to college," Smith said. "I tell my upcoming graduating class -- 'You have to beat that board."'

At Valley High School, Principal Ron Montoya said he wasn't satisfied with the 72 percent graduation rate in 2004 and even less pleased that just 66.7 percent of Hispanic students earned diplomas in the same year.

Valley is one of a handful of district high schools taking part in a new program, Advancement Through Individualized Determination, which places predominantly minority students in honors classes and provides mentoring, tutorials and special workshops to help them succeed. The campus also secured a federal grant to reduce class sizes, Montoya said.

"All of these things are going to help us keep students engaged and interested, and down the road graduation rates will be up," Montoya said.

Sun reporter Christina Littlefield contributed to this story.