The graduation rates statewide have improved seven consecutive years.
SPRINGFIELD – The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced Monday that the four-year graduation rates and the dropout rates improved statewide last year, including a significant reduction in the dropout rate in the Springfield school district.
The statewide graduation rate improved for the seventh consecutive year, according to the state.
Springfield had 241 fewer students drop out in 2012-13, than in 2008-09, representing a 3.1 percentage point improvement, from 9.6 percent to 6.5 percent, according to the state.
Even more dramatic, the dropout rate fell in a single year from 10 percent in 2011-12 to 6.5 percent in last year, Warwick said during an afternoon press conference at the School Department.
The improvement is the result of “a lot of hard work” in recent years by the faculty, staff and administration, Warwick said.
The four-year graduation rate, however, dropped from 56.6 percent in 2012 to 54.9 percent last year. Two years ago, the drop-out rate was 52.1 percent.
While the graduation rate slipped in Springfield, Warwick said he expects the more recent programs to keep students in school will translate to higher graduation rates in the years ahead.
The improvement in the dropout rate is the result of “intensive, sustained efforts to keep students in school” through the 12th grade, Warwick said. The programs designed to keep the students in school begin as early as elementary school with consistent follow-up in the secondary years, he said.
In addition, there are efforts to improve student attendance and to expand alternative and flexible patterns to graduation such as on-line credit recovery courses, Warwick said. He also cited programs such as free night school and free summer schools, and a summer online credit recovery program, establishment of a re-engagement center, and expansion of the “Gateway to College” program
Mayor Domenic Sarno and School Committee member Christopher Collins joined in praising the latest statistics.
“We are moving in the right direction,” Sarno said. “It is a community effort.”
Around the region, communities such as Holyoke, West Springfield, Northampton, Easthampton Amherst. and East Longmeadow saw increases in their graduation rates.
The graduation rates in communities such as Chicopee and Agawam were virtually unchanged, while graduation rates declined in Westfield, Ludlow and Greenfield among the results.
The four-year cohort graduation and dropout rates reflect the student group that started together as freshmen.
Holyoke again was among the lowest in the state despite a high school graduation rate that improved slightly, to 53.8 percent from the previous year's 52.8 percent. The city of 40,000 is roughly half Hispanic. Among challenges, officials have said, is that English is not the first language for more than 70 percent of public school students.
"Obviously, any increase is welcome news, but the figures remain disappointing. The students of the schools deserve better," said Mayor Alex B. Morse, chairman of the School Committee.
Holyoke's high school drop out rate worsened, to 26.8 percent in 2013 from the previous year's 25 percent.
Morse was confident that efforts happening now in early grades will result in better-educated students later. These efforts include the focus on ensuring increased numbers of third graders read proficiently at their grade level and the hiring of Superintendent Sergio Paez, who began July 1 and came from the Worcester public schools with a reputation as a literacy improvement specialist, he said.
"Education is a key priority of mine," Morse said.
In Westfield, the graduation rate for a four-year cohort of 504 students was 82.9 percent with 6 percent of those not graduated still in school; 32 percent are listed as non-grad completers and 2.6 percent got their GED equivalency diplomas. Statistics showed that 6.5 percent dropped out.
That 82.9 percent graduation rate is lower than the 84.3 percent reported from the 2012 four-year cohort. But Westfield Superintendent of Schools Suzanne Scallion said things are a lot better than the 10-percent dropout rates common a decade ago.
“One kid dropping out is too many,” she said. “We need to keep these kids engaged and involved in school.”
She said the dropout rates, which are figured differently, have improved at Westfield Vocational Technical High School. She called that a good sign because it shows at-risk teens preparing themselves for immediate employment.
“It’s where students are on a more individualized program,” she said. “It’s about establishing a relationship with each student to get them to earn that diploma.”
At West Springfield High School, a team of 10 to 15 faculty keep tabs on about 100 students who might be in danger of dropping out due to emotional, economic pressures or even pregnancy, said West Springfield High School Principal Michael Richard . This drop-out prevention team goes through the list, sees which kids are struggling and reaches out to them one-on –one with whatever help or encouragement they need whether it’s a try out for the wrestling team or help with Algebra II.
Some kids even get home visits so parents, many of them immigrants from other cultures, understand the importance of a high school diploma and further education.
“It’s all about making personal connections,” he said.
West Springfield also has a summer catch-up program that gets lagging students back on track.
“”It also gives them an advocate in the building,” Richard said. “It’s a product of the effort we put in.”
At West Springfield, a cohort of 331 students had a graduation rate of 81.6 percent with 5.1 percent still in school; 1.8 percent non-grad completers, 2.1 percent earned their GED and 9.4 percent dropped out.
The graduation rate rose from 81.6 percent in 2013 from 80.4 percent in 2012.
In Agawam, a cohort of 349 kids had a 90 percent graduation rate, roughly the same as the 90.1 percent grad rate a year ago in the 2012 cohort. In 2013, 4.3 percent of this most recent cohort was still in school, 0.9 percent got a GED and 4.9 percent dropped out.
Westfield’s Scallion said school district’s are also adjusting to new drop-out rules.
In Easthampton, the graduation rate in 2013 rose to 88.3 percent from the 84.7 percent in 2012.
“There has been focused attention and effort on raising the graduation rate and lowering the drop-out rate in the high school improvement plan since Dr. (Vito) Perrone was hired as principal, and we are please to see the investment we have made in our students is leading to a higher graduation rate,” said Superintendent Nancy B. Follansbee.
Perrone became principal in 2009.
“The high school plan has involved increased attention to outreach to students and their parents; collaboration with community partners, and targeted interventions to meet student needs,” Follansbee said.
In Chicopee, the high school graduation rate increased but only slightly, to 72.6 percent from the previous year's 72.5 percent. Such a small uptick in an urban school district in that range is typical, Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. said.
Any improvement is welcome, he said, but the goal remains a higher rate of high school graduates.
"Obviously, we'd like to see it up around the state's 85 percent average," Rege said.
Even more welcome news was that Chicopee's rate of students dropping out of high school fell to 12.4 percent in 2013 compared to the previous year's 15.3 percent, he said.
The statewide average high school drop out rate was 6.5 percent.
Staff writers Jim Kinney, Mike Plaisance and Diane Lederman contributed to this report.
The story will be updated as reporting continues.