(ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Virginia) - Today, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) released the On-Time Graduation Rate for all schools in Virginia. This year's On-Time Graduation Rate represents students who entered the ninth grade for the first time in 2005, and reflects the percentage of those students who earned a Virginia Board of Education certified diploma by June of 2009.

In Albemarle County, nearly 90 percent (89.5%) of students who entered one of the four county public schools - Albemarle, Monticello, Murray or Western Albemarle High - in the fall of 2005 graduated in 2009. That percentage exceeds the state average of 83.2 percent and is an improvement over the 2008 Albemarle County Public Schools on-time graduation rate, the first year the metric was used. In 2008, 87.3 percent of students in the county schools received a diploma within four years.

In addition to the graduation rate for all students, data is disaggregated to determine the graduation rates of various subpopulations of students, including male, female, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, students of other ethnicities, students identified as economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, homeless students, and students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP).  In addition to besting the state average for all students, students in each of these groups attending Albemarle County Public Schools generally fared better than their counterparts across the state.

In Albemarle County in 2009, more students from each membership group graduated within four years of entering high school than their counterparts in 2008, with the exception of black students. Hispanic students and students with disabilities showed nearly 7-percentage point gains in on-time graduation rate in 2009 compared with 2008, and economically disadvantaged students reported a 3-percentage point gain. Although fewer black students graduated on-time in 2009 than their counterparts in 2008, one-third of those students who did not graduate are still enrolled in school and are on track to graduate within five years. Nationally, about 71 percent of students graduate on time with a regular diploma, but barely half of black and Hispanic students earn diplomas with their peers.

 "A number of our black students who did not graduate in 2008 stayed in school another year and graduated in 2009," said Dr. Matthew Haas, Director of Secondary Education for the school division. "These students had gotten behind early in their high school careers and persisted to finish their work and graduate at nearly the same rate as their peers. As a School Division, we have now put into place more programs to help students who fall behind early in high school get caught up sooner, so that they can not only graduate, but graduate on-time."

Albemarle County Schools has begun several programs to help students earn a diploma on time. Implemented in 2006, these include the AVID program, Apex Learning and Credit Recovery System, intervention and remediation time during the regular high school day, and the use of Schoolnet, a data management system that allows student performance to be tracked in real time and to pinpoint specific courses - and even specific skills - that a student needs help with in order to achieve. Since implementing these programs, the Division has cut its 9^th grade retention rate (the number of students who fail the ninth grade) by more than 90 percent.

"That means fewer students are getting behind early in their high school years, which means many more of them will graduate on time," Haas said. Failing the 9^th grade is one of the biggest predictors of dropping out of high school. Four out of five students who fail the 9^th grade will drop out, according to several national studies.

"We have focused our dropout prevention strategies on the 9^th grade in order to stop the pattern that leads to not graduating," Haas said. "By not allowing a student to fall behind in the first place, we keep them on track to graduate and eliminate the despair that leads to dropping out."

This is the second year the Commonwealth of Virginia has grouped students into "cohorts" to determine how many earn a board-certified diploma within the expected four years of high school. The On-Time Graduation Rate metric was developed by the National Governor's Association in 2005, and adopted in Virginia in 2006 as the official graduation rate calculation. Prior to adopting the On-Time Graduation Rate, school divisions and states used different formulas to determine their graduation rates. The inverse of the On-Time Graduation Rate does not equal the dropout rate. Students who did not graduate within four years may still be enrolled in school, or may have completed an alternate program, such as a GED.

In Albemarle County, students who entered high school in 2005 posted an 89.5 percent on-time graduation rate, a 92.1 percent completion rate, and a 5.8 percent dropout rate. This compares with the state averages of 83.2 percent on-time graduation rate, 87.2 percent completion rate and a 7.9 percent dropout rate for the same group of students.

"We are certainly pleased that our overall graduation rates exceed the state averages and represent improvement over last year for most students," Haas said. "However, our school division goal is to eliminate the achievement gap, so we are not fully satisfied until all students are able to graduate on-time with a board certified diploma. Our students' 2009 performance on the Standards of Learning tests shows considerable progress is being made at all grade levels, with as much as 45 percentage point gains by previously underachieving students over the past three years. That leading data is an indication that our changes in curriculum, assessment, instruction and intervention begun three years ago are making a difference and that our on-time graduation rate over the next few years will continue to increase for all students."

DATE:   October 20, 2009

CONTACT:    Dr. Matthew Haas, Director of Secondary Education

PHONE: (434) 296-5820