Hamilton County Schools officials say they are getting closer to one of their goals in the Future Ready 2023 action plan - a 90% overall graduation rate. Superintendent Bryan Johnson launched the initiative in 2018, aiming to prepare area students for life after high school.
The district graduation rate for the 2019-20 school year increased despite a pandemic that forced online education this past spring. With about 87% of students graduating high school within four years, Hamilton County trailed the state's rate. The Tennessee Department of Education reported an 89.6% graduation rate, a slight decrease from last year.
The district is up from 86.7% last year, and officials said that's up from 84.5% in the 2012-2013 school year.
Communications director Tim Hensley and Johnson were not district employees during that school year. Both were hired in 2017.
"I was not around [at that time] but the students dropping out is a direct correlation with the graduation rate. What we have attempted to do in the last few years is to make graduation relevant to more students," Hensley said by email. "In the past, students were meeting a standard of specific classes or credits in a category to graduate. They still do, but we now want to make the courses they take, and their credits, relate more to their interest and career goals."
Johnson said success is much more than the numbers.
"We want graduates who are future ready and prepared for success in college or career after high school, and that is the focus of our five-year plan Future Ready 2023. Relevance makes the need to graduate real for more high school students because it applies to their life goals."
SCHOOL REPORT CARD
Among Hamilton County charter schools, Ivy Academy had a 100% graduation rate and Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy 94%.
But the school district tracks traditional public schools as part of its Future Ready initiative.
Five of those high schools reported a perfect graduation rate of 100%, an increase from three last year. Those schools are Chattanooga High Center for Creative Arts, Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, Collegiate High, Hamilton County Virtual School and STEM School Chattanooga.
The campuses are also included in the list of 10 schools that outshone the state with 90% or better graduation rates - up by one from last year. The other campuses are Signal Mountain Middle-High, Lookout Valley Middle-High, Tyner Academy, Sale Creek Middle-High and Soddy Daisy High.
There are some campuses that reported below the state's mark.
East Hamilton Middle-High came in at 89.5% while Ooltewah High School, East Ridge High School, Sequoyah High School, Central High School, Hixson High School and Red Bank High School had rates below East Hamilton and above 80%.
Hamilton County's lowest graduation rates were The Howard School with 72.9% and Brainerd High School with 71.9% graduating - an increase from last year at 63.1% and 69.3%, respectively.
Surrounding Tennessee counties, including Bradley, Bledsoe and Sequatchie, saw the highest graduation rates for the southeast region of the state. Bradley County Schools scored 95%, the seventh year in a row the district has had a rate above 91%.
Linda Cash, Bradley's director of schools, said in a statement that the district is "beyond excited and proud."
"Our graduation rate increased this year from 93.8% to 95%. This is above the state graduation rate of 89.6% and is the second highest graduation rate in the southeast core region. Meigs County has the highest graduation rate in our region and we congratulate them on a job well done," Cash said in a statement.
Neighboring county Meigs County Schools' data was suppressed by the state's department of education this school year, citing federal student privacy laws. The state withholds graduation rate data for school rates above 99% and below 5% because it might tend to divulge the record of individual students.
Email correspondence to Director of Schools Clint Baker directed the Times Free Press to the state agency's school report card section of its website. The website reported 98.4% for 2019-20 and 98.3% for 2018-19.
Grad demographics
Hamilton County Schools saw increases across several subgroups of students in the 2019-20 school year, while the state saw overall declines: Black or African American: saw an increase of 1.4% at 85.5%; above the state average at 83% Black/Hispanic/Native American: an increase of 2.1% at 84.2%; performing above the state average for this subgroup with the state at 82.9% English Learners: performed above the state average with Hamilton County Schools at 73.3% and the state at 68.6% Hispanic: an increase of 4.4%, where the state saw a decrease of 1.7% Source: Hamilton County Schools
STATEWIDE TAKEAWAYS
Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn's office announced the state's graduation rate in September.
"Tennessee has set high expectations for students and educators, and we recognize their hard work and achievements despite a global pandemic, but any dip in graduation rate is highly concerning," Schwinn said in an online statement. "As we look for ways to improve, we will continue to partner with districts and use data to help inform strategies for setting students on a path to success."
For the 2019-20 school year:
Sixty nine districts improved their graduation rates
Fifty eight districts graduated 95 percent or more of their cohorts.
Thirty seven campuses had graduation rates of 100%.
Five hundred and twenty nine fewer students graduated compared to last year, for a total of 64,514.
Contact Monique Brand at mbrand@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.