October 9, 2024: Graduation rates for the state of Georgia were released yesterday. The overall district four-year graduation rate, which includes Claxton High School (CHS) and The Academy, is 79.7%. This is a 9.2% decrease from the 2023 district graduation rate of 88.9%. CHS’s 2024 four-year graduation rate is 85.5%, higher than Georgia’s graduation rate of 85.4, but a 3.7% decrease from CHS’s 2023 graduation rate of 89.2%.
Increasing the district's percentage of students graduating college, career, and community ready within four years by a 5% improvement target is a focus of the Evans County Charter School System’s (ECCSS) strategic plan. While CHS’s graduation rate has exceeded the state’s graduation rate for the last seven years, the 2024 four-year graduation rate did not meet the school’s improvement goal.
Analysis of the 2024 four-year graduation data indicates that CHS had 100 students graduate from a graduation class size of 117 students. Four-year graduation data indicates that The Academy had 10 students graduate from a graduation class size of 21 students.
Students in the 2024 graduation class who did not graduate were reported as dropouts due to their withdrawal codes. According to State Board of Education Rule 160-5-1.28, a dropout code is reported for students who withdraw for the following reasons: marriage, expelled, financial hardship/job, incarcerated/criminal justice authority, low grades/school failure, military, adult education/secondary, pregnant/parent, removed for lack of attendance, serious illness/accident, and unknown.
For the 28 students reported as dropouts in the 2024 graduation class, the following withdrawal reasons were coded: removed for lack of attendance (7 students), adult education/secondary (1 student), and unknown (20 students). The unknown code is often used when a parent/guardian has not officially withdrawn the child from the school, the child is no longer attending school, and the school has not received any requests for records.
“Our leadership teams at CHS and The Academy monitor cohort data each year as our students progress from 9th through 12th grades. During this ongoing monitoring, our goal is to conduct student-by-student analysis of graduation data, including academic progress, attendance, enrollments, withdrawals, and transfers. We use this data analysis and evaluation of student supports to determine our next steps to increase our district and school-level graduation rates,” ECCSS Superintendent, Dr. Marty Waters stated. “We know that every student is different and has different needs. If we can better determine those needs, use that information to plan and take action, and monitor progress along and along, we can help more and more of our students to be college, career, and community ready graduates.”