Gilmer County School System’s graduation rates have been released, and its marks outpace state averages.
Released graduation rates include those for students with disabilities (SWD), as well as its regular rate, which are at 90 and 92.4 percent, respectively.
In August, Gilmer County School’s Superintendent Dr. Shanna Downs received the 2018 SWD graduation rate from the state board of education’s special education director, Zelphine Smith-Dixon, and released the information at the board of education’s September work session.
During that meeting, Gilmer’s assistant superintendent for student services and special education director Kim Cagle presented and explained the latest available statistics.
“The SWD graduation rate represents the percentage of SWD who exit high school with a regular education diploma regardless of the year they entered high school,” Cagle said. “Gilmer was recognized as having a 90 percent annual event graduation rate for SWD, which is amazing.
“We did very well and I’m very proud of our county, teachers and students.”
Georgia’s SWD graduation rate for 2018 was 71.3 percent.
Of Georgia’s 159 counties, Gilmer was one of 49 to achieve a SWD graduation rate of 85 percent or higher.
Surrounding school systems and their corresponding SWD graduation rates include: Dawson (100), Union (95.5), Gordon (93.8), Pickens (92.3), Murray (92.3) and Fannin (85.2). Whitfield, Lumpkin, Cherokee and Bartow counties’ SWD graduation rates were below 85 percent and unavailable.
Georgia’s 2019 regular graduation rate has continued to climb in recent years and is currently at an all-time high of 82 percent.
The state calculates its graduation rate by taking the number of students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma and divides it by the adjusted cohort rate (ACR).
The ACR is calculated by the number of students “who enter ninth grade for the first time, which form a cohort that is subsequently adjusted by adding any students who transfer into the cohort during the next three years, and subtracting any students who transfer out,” according to the Georgia Department of Education.
Gilmer High’s 2019 graduation rate of 92.4 percent is an increase from last year.
“Our graduation rate had stayed in the 90s until last year,” Downs said. “You have a year every now and then, and ours dropped into the 80s. It was almost an anomaly year for us, but we’re back up to where we want to be.
“It can always be higher, but 92.4 percent is really good.”