Under the new standard for calculating graduation rates St Louis graduation rates have tumbled. o better support the No Child Left Behind regulations the U.S. Department of Education imposed a standardized formula for calculating a four-year adjusted cohort high school graduation rate at the state, district, and high school levels for the 2010-2011 school year. The new high school graduation rate requires all states to report the percentage of freshmen students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma.
In Missouri the new and current calculations are based on different cohorts: the previous graduation rate determined its cohort when a student graduates, which includes students who take more than four years to graduate from high school; the new graduation rate determines its cohort when the student first enters the ninth grade. Missouri published the new four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate on December 1, 2011 and will continue, for now, to also report the previous graduation rates.
For the St Louis and surrounding areas, the new calculation resulted in an overall 6.73% decline in the graduation rate for 2010-2011. Only Affton and Valley Park realized a gain in graduates, and Jennings saw almost no change in the graduation rates. What is significant is that 53%, 16 out of the 30 school districts, had more than a 5% decline in the graduation rate under the new formula.
The St Louis school districts ranked from worst to best: (New Formula)
Formula Old \New \Change
All Missouri Schools--85.80%\ 79.80%\-6.00%
St Louis City/County--88.05%\ 81.33%\-6.73%
SPECL. SCH. DST.----82.60%\ 47.73% \-34.87%
ST. LOUIS CITY-------62.20%\ 52.58%\-9.62%
NORMANDY----------71.40%\ 57.79%\-13.61%
FERGUSON-FLORIS--84.90%\ 69.78%\-15.12%
RITENOUR-------------83.00%\ 70.36%\-12.64%
RIVERVIEW GARDS---76.00%\ 72.34%\-3.66%
HILLSBORO R-III------88.40%\ 72.60%\-15.80%
HAZELWOOD----------82.40%\ 73.52%\-8.88%
UNIVERSITY CITY----84.00%\ 74.83%\-9.17%
HANCOCK PLACE----81.40%\ 77.18%\-4.22%
ST. CHARLES R-VI----84.40%\ 77.74%\-6.66%
PATTONVILLE R-III---90.20%\ 80.70%\-9.50%
FT. ZUMWALT R-II----90.10%\ 83.40%\-6.70%
JENNINGS--------------85.40%\ 84.47%\-0.93%
PARKWAY C-2---------93.70%\ 85.32%\-8.38%
MAPLEWD-RICH HG--93.50%\ 86.32%\-7.18%
BAYLESS---------------89.60%\ 87.41%\-2.19%
FRANCIS HOWELL----94.40%\ 87.64%\-6.76%
LINDBERGH------------93.00%\ 87.82%\-5.18%
FOX C-6----------------93.20%\ 88.10%\-5.10%
AFFTON 101-----------87.20%\ 88.65%\ 1.45%
WENTZVILLE----------90.80%\ 89.06%\-1.74%
ROCKWOOD R-VI----94.80%\ 90.85%\-3.95%
BRENTWOOD---------93.50%\ 91.25%\-2.25%
WEBSTER GROVES---94.00%\ 91.64%\-2.36%
VALLEY PARK--------89.40%\ 91.67%\ 2.27%
MEHLVILLE R-IX-----93.30%\ 92.04%\-1.26%
KIRKWOOD R-VII----96.30%\ 93.03%\-3.27%
LADUE-----------------99.00%\ 95.45%\-3.55%
CLAYTON-------------99.50%\ 98.49%\-1.01%
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