Poplarville Separate School District had the ninth highest graduation rate and the sixth highest graduation rate for students with disabilities in Mississippi during the 2018 to 2019 school year, according to the Mississippi Department of Education’s Office of Accountability.

Graduation rates and dropout rates were released Thursday and will be reflected in each district’s 2019-2020 school year accountability ratings. The rates measure whether students who entered high school in the 2015-2016 school year graduated by July 2019.

Statewide, the graduation rate was 85 percent with a dropout rate of 9.7 percent. The graduation rate for students with disabilities was 42.2 percent with a dropout rate of 20.2 percent. The lowest district graduation rate in the state was 5 percent (Oakley Youth Development Center) and the highest was 100 percent (Mississippi School of the Arts).

Picayune School District’s graduation rate was lower than the state average, but all three districts had higher graduation rates for students with disabilities than the state’s average of 42.2 percent. All three districts had higher graduation rates for female students than male students, which was also true statewide. Across the state, female students had a graduation rate of 89.3 percent, while male students had an 80.9 percent graduation rate.

Poplarville

Poplarville Separate School District had a graduation rate of 92.6 percent. The district dropout rate was 5.4 percent. For students with disabilities the graduation rate was 66.7 percent.

Female students had a 98.5 percent graduation rate, while male students had an 88 percent graduation rate. Black or African American students had a 100 percent graduation rate, while white students had a 91.6 percent graduation rate. Economically disadvantaged students had a 92.3 percent graduation rate.

Picayune

Picayune School District had a high school graduation rate of 80.8 percent. The district dropout rate was 13.6 percent. For students with disabilities, the graduation rate was 50 percent.

Female students had an 85.6 percent graduation rate, while male students had a 76.4 percent graduation rate. Black or African American students had a 77 percent graduation rate, while white students had an 83.1 percent graduation rate. Economically disadvantaged students had an 83.2 percent graduation rate.

Pearl River County

Pearl River County School District had a graduation rate of 87.5 percent, and the district dropout rate was 5.5 percent. For students with disabilities the graduation rate was 45.5 percent. Female students had a 92.6 percent graduation rate, while male students had an 82.7 percent graduation rate.

For white students, the graduation rate was 87.9 percent, while students who were classified as being two or more races had a 70 percent graduation rate. Economically disadvantaged students had an 84 percent graduation rate.

The MDE report did not include a “black or African American” category for the Pearl River County School District because the number of students within that category is less than 10.