The
Georgia Department of Education has released SY 2017-18 graduation rates for
the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System and
for the past four years the SCCPSS Cohort Graduation Rate has posted a positive
upward trend. The SY2017-18 graduation rate is 86.6% - a 2.3 point jump
over the previous year. This number once again surpasses the state’s graduation
rate of 81.6% – which is an all-time high for Georgia. This is the fourth year
in a row that the SCCPSS Graduation Rate has exceeded the state rate. It also
surpasses the latest national average graduation rate available of 84.1%.
SCCPSS
once again can boast of two schools that attained a 100% graduation rate. It is the third year in a row that Savannah
Early College High School has achieved this accomplishment and the second year
in a row for the Woodville-Tompkins
Technical and Career High School. Seven of Savannah-Chatham’s eleven high
schools saw their graduation rate remain the same or increase. Two high schools in particular posted large
increases. Windsor Forest High School’s
4 year cohort graduation rate went up by 8.1 points! Jenkins High saw an increase of 10.9 points!
SCCPSS
Superintendent Dr. Ann Levett says, “The continued growth of the district’s
graduation rate is measurable proof that the work being done by district staff
to prepare all students for productive futures is having unprecedented success.
That work is a process that begins long before high school with our early childhood
education programs and continues throughout a student’s educational
career. Each and every employee of Savannah-Chatham
County Public Schools can share in this growth, and we as a community can be
proud of this outstanding accomplishment for our students and for our school
system.”
Georgia
calculates a four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate as required by federal
law. This rate is the number of students who graduate in four years with a
regular high school diploma divided by the number of students who form
the adjusted cohort for the graduating class. From the beginning of ninth
grade, students who are entering that grade for the first time form a cohort
that is subsequently “adjusted” by adding any students who transfer into the
cohort during the next three years, and subtracting any students who transfer
out.
While
all states use the same calculation, each state sets its own requirements for
students to earn a regular high school diploma. Georgia has some of the highest
requirements in the nation for students to graduate with a regular diploma.
