Talbot County Public Schools presented Cohort Graduation and Dropout Data at the February Board of Education Meeting. Mrs. Lynne Duncan, Assistant Superintendent for Administrative and Support Services gave a detailed overview, which included explaining what qualifies as a high school diploma, defining categories of “drop-outs” and sharing results for particular cohorts, or groups of students.
For the class of 2017, the four-year cohort graduation rate was 84.69% for Easton, 100% for Saint Michaels Middle High and 87.11% for Talbot County as a whole. This represents an increase over 2016 when the graduation rates were 82.11%, 100% and 85.51% respectively. The State of Maryland graduation rate for 2017 was 87.67%.“We are happy to see this progress over last year,” said Dr. Kelly Griffith, Superintendent of Schools, “but we are by no means satisfied, as it is our goal that every student eligible to receive a standard high school diploma do so in four years.”
For the class of 2016, five-year cohort, the graduation rates were 84.91% for Easton High, 100% for Saint Michaels, 87.78% for all Talbot Schools and 89.47 for the state of Maryland.
There were a total of 46 non-graduates for the class of 2017. Four of those are anticipated to graduate in 2019, and three were special education students who earned their Certificate of Attendance. The 39 actual dropouts can be summarized as follows:
• 10 students moved out of the area and did not enroll elsewhere
• 9 students left the traditional school setting to work on their GED
• 8 students turned 21 and are no longer legally eligible to attend school
• 4 students left to work full-time
• 5 students dropped out in spite of multiple interventions
• 2 students became incarcerated
• 1 student became a parent and left school
To further address the graduation/drop-out rate in the county, a number of dropout prevention and re-engagement strategies and interventions have been continued or put into place by both the Student Services and the Drop-Out Prevention and Re-Engagement Coordinator, a new position to TCPS this year in partnership with the Talbot Family Network.
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