Tag: Graduation Rate

Public High School 4-Year Grad Rate Last School Year Was Up

West Virginia’s public high school four-year graduation rate last school year was 90 percent, up from 89 percent the previous school year.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the state Department of Education released the 2017-18 school year graduation rates Thursday.

The graduation rates ranged from 83 percent in Kanawha and Cabell counties to 97 percent in Doddridge, Lewis, Mingo, Morgan, Putnam and Tyler counties.

The state’s graduation rates rank high nationally but haven’t been mirrored by high performance on some other statewide measures of student success. Only 22 percent of juniors in the 2016-2017 school year were deemed at least “proficient” on the state math standardized test. About half were judged at least proficient in English.

West Virginia students don’t have to score proficient on these tests to graduate.

Superintendent: State Achieves Historically High Graduation Rate

West Virginia high school students have achieved the state’s highest graduation rate on record. 

During the 2015-2016 school year, West Virginia graduated 89.8 percent of its high school seniors.

State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Martirano announced the historic graduation rate at George Washington High School in Charleston Tuesday morning.

The rate is up from 86.5 percent the previous school year. Martirano, who has a goal of 90 percent for the state, said the number is important because it represents real students succeeding.

“What does this mean? It’s that we’re providing hope t our young people, to our state, that indicates every child graduates college and career ready and can make contributions to our state,” Martirano said.

After the 2014-2015 school year, West Virginia ranked 18th in the nation for graduating students. Martirano added only one state had a 90 percent graduation rate that year.

Low Community College Graduation Rates Prompt Scrutiny

As many as two-thirds of West Virginia’s public community colleges are expected to come under increased scrutiny from one of their accreditors because of graduation rates that are lower than half the national average.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions said in a news release Wednesday that its members will ask four-year institutions with graduation rates at or below 25 percent and two-year institutions at or below 15 percent to show how they are working to improve.

A website operated by the U.S. Department of Education says six of West Virginia’s nine public community colleges have graduation rates below the 15 percent threshold. The average completion rate at community colleges nationwide is 39 percent.

Representatives told the newspaper that West Virginia Community and Technical College System Sarah Tucker could not be reached for comment.

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