Last month, the Mississippi Department of Education released the graduation rates for the 2015-2016 school year.
According to a release from MDE, “students are earning standard diplomas at an all-time high.”
In Pearl River County, the graduation rate for the three school districts was more than 80 percent and drop out rates were at 10 percent or less, according to the report.
The nation’s high school graduation rate was 82 percent in 2013-2014, the release states. Most districts showed a four-year graduation rate of 80.8 percent, which is up from last school year’s 78.4 percent, according to the release.
Dr. J.P. Beaudoin, MDE’s director of research and development, said in the release, “Mississippi could surpass the national rate by next year.”
In addition to the increase in four-year-graduation rates, the graduation rate for students with disabilities also increased from 27.5 percent in 2014-2015 to 33.6 percent in 2015-2016, the release states.
Picayune School District’s graduation rate for the 2015-2016 school year was 81.3 percent, Pearl River County School District’s rate was 84.6 percent and Poplarville School District’s rate was 81.5 percent. The previous school year’s graduation rates in this county’s various school districts were 76.2 percent, 79.3 percent and 81.1 percent, respectively, the report states.
The dropout rate for Picayune was 10.8 percent, Pearl River County was at 9.4 percent and Poplarville’s dropout rate was 10.8 percent, the report states. The dropout rate throughout the county decreased from last school year’s report of 12.6 percent, 14.5 percent and 15.5 percent, respectively, according to the report.
The graduation rate for students with disabilities in each district was 50.9 percent in Picayune, 41.2 percent in Pearl River County and 32.2 percent in Poplarville, according to the report. For the 2014-2015 school year, that same graduation rate for Picayune was 32.3 percent and Pearl River County’s was 28.3. Poplarville School District did not meet the minimum count for calculation of graduation rates in that category, the report states.
Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education, said in the release that parents and teachers should be proud.
“The credit is due to the hard work of our teachers and principals who continue to set high expectations for children and our children continue to meet and exceed those expectations,” Wright said in the release. “I’m particularly pleased to see the progress of our students with disabilities. We are not where we should be as a state, but we are increasing the opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in general education classes. Through the state’s graduation options, we also opened multiple pathways for students to earn a diploma.”
For more information about district-level performance visit http://reports.mde.k12.ms.us/report/report2015.aspx.