Why do some schools’ graduation rates look a little lower this year?

Some central San Joaquin Valley school districts are posting graduation rates that look a little lower than they’ve been in recent years. But a new state methodology for counting grads may be to blame.

In response to a federal audit, California is no longer counting students who receive an adult education diploma or those who pass the California High School Proficiency Exam as regular high school graduates.

However, students who transfer to adult education programs or community colleges still count as part of their cohort. Graduation rates for cohorts were calculated by counting the number of ninth-graders in 2013–14 who graduated on-time, four years later, in 2017.

The state’s graduation rate for the 2016-17 school year was 82.7 percent, according to publicly available data on DataQuest. In 2015-16, it was 83.8 percent.

A news release from Torlakson’s office says that due to the new formula, this year’s rates should not be compared to previous years. But the numbers do shine some light on which school districts have the most students completing alternatives to a traditional high school diploma.

Sanger Unified, for example, had a graduation rate of 97 percent in 2015-16, or 740 out of 763 students. In 2016-17, 647 students were counted as regular high school diploma graduates, for a graduation rate of 89 percent, pointing to a significant number of students who were not counted as graduates under the new formula.

The district did not return a request for comment Thursday.

After a record-high graduation rate of 85.5 percent in 2015-16, Fresno Unified has dropped to 82 percent for the 2016-17 school year under the new formula. Superintendent Bob Nelson said the state Department of Education had found that graduation rates were likely to decrease 2-3 percent.

“With the updated rates, Fresno Unified School District remains on par with the State of California,” Nelson said in a news release. “More importantly, the new calculation method will ensure all students are accounted for as we develop academic programming.”

Just over 49 percent of Fresno Unified grads met UC or CSU requirements in 2016-17, also on par with the state’s rate.

Clovis Unified posted a 93.7 percent cohort graduation rate in 2016-17, compared to 94.2 percent in 2015-16 and 94.6 percent in 2014-15.

Over 54 percent of Clovis Unified graduates met UC or CSU requirements.

Central Unified showed gains despite new formula with an 85.8 percent graduation rate in 2016-17 over their 82.9 percent rate in 2015-16.

This story was originally published July 26, 2018 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Why do some schools’ graduation rates look a little lower this year?."