DeKalb Schools graduation rate is expected to increase again to 77%.
DeKalb Schools is approaching the state’s high school graduation rate which rose to 81.6% last year. 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.
5,346 out of 6,104 high school seniors are currently on-track to earn the appropriate number of Carnegie Units (credit hours) to graduate.
• Increased counseling services – senior audits process
• Implementation of services for new Data Clerks
• Increased Programming in Advanced Placement, Dual Enrollment, CTAE
• Post-Secondary Readiness Strategies/ Summer Transition
• Increased parental involvement and engagement around graduation expectations
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DeKalb Schools 2018 Graduation Rates
The four-year graduation rate for DCSD’s Class of 2018 was 75 percent, an increase from the 2017 graduation rate of 74 percent.
2017 DeKalb Graduation Rates By High School & Demographic
DeKalb School graduation rate climbed nearly 4 percentage points in 2017 to 74%.
2016 DeKalb Graduation Rates By High School
This is the second year that students shall no longer be required to earn a passing score on the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) to earn a high school diploma.
2015 Graduation Rates
The DeKalb County School District graduation rate is up nearly 10% from last year. “We are headed in the right direction with improved graduation rates because of our laser focus on student achievement,” Superintendent Steve Green said. “Much more work needs and will be done to ensure our students are ready for career and college opportunities.”
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
How is Sherry Johnson a region superintendent? Her answers tonight were baffling – did she not listen or did she not comprehend?
Are Region superintendents merely appointed or is there a process?
It’s the who you know game. She has never been a principal or an AP. Go figure, Same thing with Dr, Tinsley over support services and intervention. All she does his hire her friends and provides no support or intervention for the schools (clueless). Jester look into please
I can’t get into the specifics of personnel issues, but we had to lower our requirements for various positions to allow certain people to get in. I complain incessantly with the other board members to no avail. It troubles me to no end, but I have to tread lightly in public on this issue.
Business as usual at good old Dekalb BOE– if you had any question of the focus of this leadership– look at the comments above– They are crooks and DO NOT CARE about a single student– oops except maybe Dr. Green’s grandchildren who were going to Smokerise?
Let’s think about high school. The vast majority of DCSD high schools are on the block schedule system, meaning that students take 4 classes in the fall semester and 4 classes in the spring semester. They can earn 8 credits per year.
Over 4 years these students can earn 32 credits. In DCSD, only 24 credits are required for graduation.
So while improving to a 75% graduation rate is good, think about this.
25% of our high school students cannot earn 24 credits in 4 years, even when offered the opportunity to earn 32 credits in those 4 years.
Also, let’s think about the quality of that high school diploma.
GOSA tracks the % of graduates who enroll at Georgia colleges and universities and require remedial classes when they enter college. For 2016,
DCSD graduates:
13% require remediation in English
24% require remediation in Math
These scores are substantially better than those from 2011! That’s good.
So it’s very good that DCSD is increasing graduation rates while also decreasing the % of graduates who enter Georgia colleges and require remedial courses.
But DCSD is still way behind other metro counties.
Cobb County Schools graduates:
8.5% require remediation in English
15.5% require remediation in Math
Fulton County Schools:
6% require remediation in English
12% require remediation in Math
Gwinnett County Schools:
7% require remediation in English
13% require remediation in Math
I agree that progress must be celebrated. But it also has to be kept in context.
News Flash – even with these numbers, Dekalb County Schools still suck eggs. The course material has been dumbed down so much that if you just show up, you’ll get a diploma.
The Georgia Milestones Assessment System is designed to provide information about how well students are mastering the state-adopted content standards in the core content areas of English Language Arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. The end-of-course assessment measures are administered at the completion of the course, regardless of the grade level. These measures serve as the final exam for the course, and contribute 20% to the student’s final course grade.
Mr. Jester, while it is true that at the high school level the End-of-Course Assessment counts as 20% of the student’s grade, a student can fail the End-of-Course Assessment and still pass the course, which would allow the student to graduate. As long as the DeKalb County School District allows classwork and homework to count for 45% of a student’s grade at the high school level (which inflates many students’ grades), just knowing that a student has passed a class does not mean they have mastered the content of the course. So while DeKalb County’s graduation rate may be improving, I am not so sure that the students that are graduating are prepared for college or technical schools (as the data in Anonymous’ post above suggests).
The opposite about the EOC is true as well. You can fail the class even if you pass the EOC. My child failed a gifted high school class with a 69.4, but passed the EOC with an 80. All classwork grades were pop quizes, homework was posted online – answers only. Tests, tests, quizes, tests, pop quizes. I will never forget staying up in tears with her, trying to work a “cat whiskers plot box” or something (it has been a while). She still received an F for her grade. When she asked why, the teacher told her that she did not try hard enough (!). We moved her out of the gifted track for that subject, but I always wondered if I could have protested or something, since I felt the EOC proved she knew the material.
I am very interested to find out exactly how much money goes into testing. How much is spent per year on the Georgia Milestones test, the end of course tests, and any additional other test- STAR, MAP, CoGAT etc. How much do the tests cost, how much is spent on the storage and grading. What are the real costs that go into this ‘standardized testing’. How much is spent with the IT department getting computers and software together for the testing? How much is spent on headphone for kids that have to have the test read to them by the computer program? How about all the time spent training teachers how to administer tests? Surely this time accounts for something. Then who grades the tests and how much. Does that cost? Even if that is a state budget item, that still means that the state is spending money on testing that could otherwise be allocated to other programs. I would really like to see the total dollar amount that goes specifically to testing and all the issues that go along with it.
Dr. Green’s grandchildren go to Smoke Rise?
That would explain why almost a million dollars in deferred maintenance has been done over the last three years at a school that is scheduled to close.
At the same time, other schools can’t get toilet paper, or work orders completed.
DeKalb Schools is all about who you know.
Kirk, not a challenge but a question. Can you share a link to a report that shows maintenance expenditures by school?
Also, given the glacier-like pace of most things in DCSD, I feel sure that some of the SRES maintenance was worthwhile. You can’t just cut off maintenance because a school is slated for replacement. For example, ceiling leaks shouldn’t be ignored just because a new school has been promised.
Those promises seem to take longer than forever, and may take even longer now given the construction budget troubles that Dr. Green spoke about at his last “On the Scene with Dr. Green.”
Thank you.
Anonymous,
The district doesn’t provide maintenance expenditures by school. When I did an open records request for Midvale E.S. work orders, the administration wanted to charge me nearly $150 to run the report.
However, in Dec. 2017 I attended a community meeting at Smoke Rise E.S. where Dan Drake proudly told the audience SMRE had gotten over $600,000 worth of deferred maintenance in the previous six months. Several weeks ago, I was at the Tucker Cluster Council meeting when Trent Arnold named a long list of additional deferred maintenance projects which had been completed at SMES.
You caught me. I estimated the total amount. Even if it was only an additional $200,000, the total would be over $800,000.
I bring it up because the 2011 Facility Condition Assessment for Midvale E.S. had several safety concerns that were labeled “potentially dangerous” and many deferred maintenance items that were listed as “recommend replacement.” Then, in 2015, those same items were identified because nothing had be done about them. Also, in the 2015 FCA the consultants listed how many years overdue for replacement each building system was. The average for Midvale was 24.5 years beyond life expectancy. In the 2015 FCA (pg. 71) it is noted “Pedestrian paving is beyond its expected service life, damaged with trip hazards, and should be replaced.” Yet, it was only a Priority 2 and there are no plans to address it.
It is eight years later and the district has no plans to address any of the deficiencies, even the “potentially dangerous” ones identified in 2011. Also, in each of the FCA deficiencies in the roof were noted, but there are no plans to address those issues. If you want to prevent problems and maintain the integrity of a building, you maintain the roof.
To be clear, the money spent at SMES was for deferred maintenance, not regular maintenance. They got a new sign (in 2017), TV monitors in the hallways, new flooring, new paint, HVAC updates, and a long list of other things I don’t remember.
My issue is some schools don’t have working HVAC systems, some have leaking roofs, and there are other urgent needs. Yet, the district prioritized deferred maintenance at SMES over those things. The fact Dr. Green’s grandchildren go to SMES may be the reason why.
Kirk Lunde,
I recently heard that Smokerise is NOT moving to the area further down Hugh Howell? Is it still being replaced?
Thank you!
Kirk,
I wasn’t trying to “catch” you. I just wanted to know if this data was available.
I applaud you for keeping the condition of Livsey and other schools in the news.