Dropout rate improves in Charlottesville

Charlottesville schools’ posted a significantly lower dropout rate for its most recent graduating class than those of previous ones, according to data released Thursday by the Virginia Department of Education.

Charlottesville High School’s class of 2010, which entered the ninth grade in 2006, saw 6.8 percent of its students dropout. Based on the state’s previously reported data, the rate is much lower than the 11.1 percent of CHS students who dropped out but were supposed to graduate in the spring of 2009, and the 13.2 percent dropout rate for the class of 2008.

“It’s a significant change. We think that we have evidence that the programs being put in place at the high school and at the lower grades to help keep students engaged and make them successful are paying off for students,” said Laurie McCullough, the city schools’ director of student achievement and program evaluation. “We expect it to continue to improve over the next few years.”

The 2010 dropout rates for the city and Albemarle County schools bested the statewide rate of 8.2 percent. The county’s dropout rate for ninth-graders who began in 2006 was 5.5 percent.

On-time graduation rates for the two localities were 80.3 percent for the city and 91.6 percent for the county. Last year, the city’s on-time graduation rate was 76.5 percent and the county’s was 89.5 percent.

The Virginia Department of Education said the on-time graduation rate statewide for public high school students who were first-time ninth-graders in 2006-07 was 85.5 percent, about 2 percentage points higher than that of the previous year’s class.

Among school divisions, Falls Church and Clarke County had the highest on-time graduation rates for the class of 2010, at 97 percent and 96 percent, respectively, according to the report. Portsmouth had the lowest, 67 percent, followed by Roanoke at 68 percent.

The report also showed continuing disparities in on-time graduation rates among student subgroups: Asian students had a 94 percent graduation rate; whites, 89 percent; black students, 79 percent; and Hispanics, 76 percent. Students with disabilities had an 83 percent graduation rate; economically disadvantaged students, 77 percent.

But graduation rates for black and Hispanic students improved from last year by 3 percentage points and 4 percentage points, respectively.

Superintendent for Public Instruction Patricia I. Wright said Thursday that the higher graduation rate is a result of teachers, counselors and administrators’ efforts to help students struggling students, and those “who are most susceptible to the pressures that cause students to drop out.”

Of the 98,027 students in the group that began high school in 2006-07, slightly more than 8 percent dropped out. Hispanic students had the highest dropout rate at 18 percent; students with disabilities, 13 percent; economically disadvantaged, 12 percent; black students, 12 percent; white students, 5 percent; Asians, 4 percent.

The Department of Education tracks individual students from year to year to get a precise on-time graduation rate by assigning each high-school freshman a “testing identifier” number. This is the third year the state has reported graduation rates using the method, which accounts for student mobility. If a student moves during high school, he would continue to be tracked, and he would count toward the graduation rate of the school where he earns his diploma.

Those who didn’t graduate in 2010 aren’t necessarily dropouts. About 2 percent of students are still enrolled, and more than 3 percent earned a GED. Others are on long-term absence or moved out of state or to private schools.

Among localities, Lee County had the highest dropout rate at 23 percent; Portsmouth and Lunenberg County each had dropout rates of 21 percent. Highland County reported no dropouts for the class of 2010.

The report said that about 36 percent of the class of 2010 earned a standard diploma; 46 percent earned an advanced-studies diploma, which requires students to earn additional credits; and about 2 percent each earned a modified standard diploma or a special diploma. The latter two types are available only to students with disabilities.

This year, high schools must meet annual graduation and completion benchmarks to earn full state accreditation.