Colorado’s graduation rate failed to improve last year, and the dropout rate increased for the first time in nine years. Public school officials aren’t sure why.
Statewide, public schools graduated 77.3 percent of students last spring, according to the most recent data released Thursday. That was the same rate as the class of 2014. The rate previously had seen four consecutive years of growth.
For the first time since 2006, the state’s dropout rate had a slight increase — 0.1 percentage point to 2.5 percent. Colorado’s public schools saw 568 more students drop out in 2014-15 than the previous school year, according to the Department of Education. In all, 11,114 students dropped out of the last school year.
“We’ve had eight consecutive years of decreases, so this year we saw a one-tenth percentage-point increase. But what that translates to is over 500 more students in the school year who are leaving, and so naturally that’s a concern,” said Judith Martinez, the director of dropout prevention and student re-engagement at the Department of Education. “Our aim is to do better for all students.”
Martinez said the department will look in the next few weeks at breakdowns of data — including dropout rates by grade level, attendance rates and discipline data — to see what might have caused the dropout increase.
The department also is looking at some districts that have made consistent increases in their four-year graduation rates to highlight their work.
“In our initial look at those areas, some of the districts that continue to make gains are paying additional attention to the eighth-grade-to-ninth-grade transitions and making sure students earn a year’s worth of credits in a year’s time,” Martinez said.
Among those districts are Jefferson County Public Schools and Mapleton School District.
In Denver metro-area districts, the highest growth in 2015 graduation rates was in the Sheridan School District, which is just southwest of Denver. It graduated 75.9 percent of its students, up 16 percentage points from 2014.
Sheridan Superintendent Michael Clough said part of the jump comes from a state-required change regarding students who were staying in the district a fifth year to earn a tiered diploma. Now they have to graduate in four years, increasing that rate of graduates.
But Clough said he is also proud of the increases the district has made in graduation rates for minority students and at-risk students at its alternative high school.
The district graduating the most students in the metro area was the Boulder Valley School District with a 92.3 percent graduation rate. Douglas County School District was next at 90 percent.
Denver Public Schools graduated 64.8 percent of its students in four years, up from 62.8 percent the previous year.
DPS celebrated its gains Thursday by highlighting the Denver Center for International Studies, which earned a 92.9 percent graduation rate.
“It’s not just that they graduate, but that they are successful when they leave,” said school principal Theresa Mccorquodale.
Mccorquodale cited a drop in remediation rates for her graduates.
All juniors at the school take a course called “Passages,” which takes them through the process of writing a 15-page college-level research paper.
“We break that down and get them through ‘How do you get to a thesis,’ ” Mccorquodale said. Students also have to present their completed paper.
Susana Cordova, the acting superintendent for DPS, said the districtwide graduation increases are attributed to credit-recovery efforts and an increase in pathways schools, which allow students to get through courses based on competency so they can move at a faster pace.
She said the district’s staff is looking at the increase in dropouts and the decrease in completers — students who take an equivalency exam — but pointed out that the test changed and it is more difficult for students to pass.
A few school districts, including those in Littleton, Brighton and Englewood, saw drops in the graduation rate from last year’s numbers.
The state Board of Education in September changed graduation requirements, lowering the minimum requirements. The changes won’t affect any current high school students: School districts have until the class of 2021 to implement their menus of graduation requirements to meet the state’s minimum or go beyond those requirements.
Officials said as they consider how districts will change their graduation requirements, they will look closely at this latest data.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or @yeseniarobles
Earning a Diploma
A look at the 2015 graduation rates for some of the metro area districts:
Denver Public Schools, 64.8 percent
Jefferson County Public Schools, 82.9 percent
Douglas County School District, 90 percent
Cherry Creek School District, 87.2 percent
Aurora Public Schools, 59 percent
Adams 12 Five Star Schools, 77.7 percent
St. Vrain Valley School District, 81.8 percent
Boulder Valley School District, 92.3 percent
