DC's Graduation Rate up 3 Points but Gaps Divide Public and Charter Schools.
DC’s high school graduation rate is up to 64%, three (3) points over prior years.
But the city average is the lowest in the United States, hides wide gaps between different groups of students and different schools. With charter schools and the school system’s selective high schools posting higher rates than public neighborhood schools.
In charter schools, 79% of students graduated on time, an increase of three over 2012. While, just 58% of D.C. Public Schools students graduated on time, also an increase of two points. Citywide, 61% of students graduated on time in 2012.
The graduation rates are calculated according to a federally mandated formula: The number of students who graduated in 2013 are divided by the number of students who were expected to graduate because they were ninth-graders four years ago, with adjustments for students who transferred in or out.
Those students who did not graduate on time, about one-third were still enrolled in a D.C. public school, suggesting that they might graduate.
With the WAKE4Youth’s programming, youths in the program would receive the direction, support and encouragement needed to help students graduate from high school no matter what groups of students and schools gaps.
