October 10, 2023

Today, the Georgia Department of Education released graduation data for the 2022-23 school year, and the Clarke County School District saw declines in both its overall and four-year rates. CCSD fully realizes that there are improvements to be made, and district- and school-level staff spent the months leading up to the current school year preparing to implement an approach in all classrooms that will lead to an anticipated increase in graduation rates in 2023-24 and beyond.

Each year, Georgia calculates a four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate as required by federal law. This rate is the number of students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma, divided by the number of students who form the adjusted cohort for the graduating class. The four-year adjusted cohort includes students who enter ninth grade at the beginning of the school year and adds or subtracts any students who transfer in or out over the next three years.

CCSD’s overall graduation rate (including the percentage of students who graduated after four or five years of high school) decreased 1.3 points from 78.3% in 2021-22 to 77% in 2022-23, while the four-year rate decreased from 76.3% to 75.4%. The district’s four-year rate lagged behind the state rate of 84.4%.

Clarke Central High School’s overall rate dropped from 82.1% to 81%, while the four-year rate dipped slightly from 80.2 to 80.1%. Cedar Shoals High School’s overall rate was down 2 points (73.5 to 71.5%), while its four-year rate decreased from 71.2 to 69.5%. Classic City High School’s rate increased from 69% to 75%, but that figure also includes students who graduated within five years. 

CCSD saw its best trends in the rate of English Learner graduates, as the four-year graduation rate for EL students increased from 50 to 62.5%. That trend was most pronounced at Clarke Central, where the four-year graduation rate for EL students jumped from 64.7 to 80%. Cedar Shoals also saw a more than 7-point increase in its four-year EL graduation rate. 

Understanding that CCSD must be a high-performing school district that ensures all students can access opportunities and positively contribute to their communities, CCSD will continue to implement measures aimed at improving student performance and graduation rates across all subgroups.

“Our community expects for us — and we expect of ourselves as a district — to deliver meaningful, empowering, and engaging learning opportunities for each child we serve,” said CCSD Superintendent Dr. Robbie Hooker. “Using our new five-year Strategic Plan as our guiding force, we will strive to make significant progress in changing the trajectory of our district through yearly action plans. We will also hold ourselves accountable through quarterly updates to the Board of Education and the community.”