Graduation rate up at many area schools

Northern Chautauqua County

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By DAVE EMKE

POSTED: June 24, 2009

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Graduation/drop-out rates as of June 2008 (date is year students entered ninth grade) District 2002 2003 2004 Bemus Point 96%/1% 96%/1% 99%/1% Brocton 79%/15% 86%/11% 77%/16% Cassadaga Valley 92%/3% 80%/13% 82%/12% Cattaraugus-Little Valley 73%/17% 76%/17% 76%/9% Chautauqua Lake 82%/9% 86%/9% 84%/6% Clymer 90%/5% 95%/5% 94%/3% Dunkirk 70%/26% 68%/24% 67%/15% Falconer 81%/17% 86%/10% 92%/3% Forestville 92%/6% 83%/6% 85%/4% Fredonia 88%/11% 91%/7% 87%/8% Frewsburg 94%/4% 91%/4% 88%/6% Jamestown 74%/18% 73%/15% 74%/13% Panama 91%/7% 90%/7% 86%/6% Pine Valley 89%/8% 73%/19% 78%/11% Randolph 90%/8% 80%/13% 87%/7% Ripley 69%/8% 80%/3% 79%/10% Salamanca 83%/9% 67%/19% 60%/10% Sherman 83%/5% 85%/15% 89%/7% Silver Creek 82%/10% 85%/12% 74%/15% Southwestern 84%/13% 89%/2% 86%/6% Westfield 85%/8% 76%/16% 71%/8% Graduation rate represents the percentage of students who have achieved a regents or local diploma as of June 2008. 2002 ninth-graders have had six years to do so; 2003 ninth-graders have had five years to do so. Numbers may not add up to 100 percent. The remainder are students who earned an IEP diploma, transferred to a GED program or remained enrolled in school into the 2008-09 school year.

As high schoolers in the Class of 2009 prepare to receive their diplomas and toss their caps, the New York State Department of Education has released its statistics on the graduation rates of those who preceded them. Across the state, 70.9 percent of students who entered ninth grade in 2004 graduated with a regents or local diploma in June 2008. This represents an increase of 1.6 percent over the state’s four-year graduation rate of 69.3 percent in June 2007. An additional 6.3 percent of students who entered ninth grade in 2003 graduated in 2008 after a fifth year of high school. Locally, four-year graduation rates from the 2004 total cohort — students who entered ninth grade in that year — are above the state average for most and are an increase from the previous year for many. All but one district in Chautauqua County graduated a percentage of its 2004 cohort higher than the statewide number, with 11 surpassing the 80 percent mark. At Maple Grove High School, 99 percent of the 84 students who were scheduled to be part of the Class of 2008 received their diplomas in June. That number is an increase from the 96 percent of students who did so in each of the previous two years. The most improved graduation rates in Chautauqua County include the following: ¯ Forestville Central School, which improved from a 75 percent rate in 2007 to an 85 percent rate in 2008; ¯ Falconer Central School, which graduated 92 percent of its 2004 cohort in four years after graduating 84 percent of the 2003 cohort in that time and just 79 percent of the 2002 cohort in 2006; ¯ Pine Valley Central School, which improved from a 71 percent graduation rate in 2007 to a 78 percent rate in 2008; and ¯ Chautauqua Lake Central School, which raised its 78 percent 2007 graduation rate by six percentage points to 84 percent in 2008. Panama Central School is one of the schools in Chautauqua County that saw a decrease in four-year graduation rate from 2007 to 2008 — from 90 percent to 86 percent. There also was a 10-student decrease in cohort size between the two years, though, from 73 students to 63. That makes each dropout weigh more toward the final percentage, Superintendent Carol Hay said. ‘‘The percentage of graduates might decrease by 4 percent, but that might only be one child for a district with low numbers,’’ Mrs. Hay said. ‘‘I think you have to look at the combination of things — the graduating number as well as the dropout number.’’ Panama’s percentage of dropouts in the two classes, despite the drop in graduation rate, actually decreased by one percentage point. The biggest decline in graduation rate in the county was seen at Brocton Central School, where just 77 percent of the 69-member 2004 cohort graduated in 2008, after the Class of 2007 had an 86 percent graduation rate. Brocton also had the highest dropout rate in the county among students who entered ninth grade in 2004 — 16 percent. Maple Grove’s 1 percent rate was the lowest, followed closely by Clymer and Falconer at 3 percent and Forestville at 4 percent. Dunkirk High School had the county’s lowest percentage of four-year graduates in 2008, 67 percent. This is an increase for the school, however, from a 65 percent rate in 2007 and a 62 percent rate in 2006. Among Cattaraugus County schools in The Post-Journal’s circulation area, Randolph Central School saw the biggest increase, improving from an 80 percent graduation rate in 2007 to an 87 percent rate in 2008. Salamanca High School, meanwhile, continues to see its rate decline — 60 percent of the 102 students who entered ninth grade in 2004 graduated in four years, down from 62 percent in the Class of 2007. The school’s 2006 graduation rate was 79 percent. For full graduation rates from all schools in the state, as well as a more comprehensive breakdown — including information by race, economic status and gender — visit www.nysed.gov.

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