Review Agenda Item
Meeting Date: 9/23/2022 - 7:00 PM
Category: Accountability and Research
Type: Info
Subject: Preliminary Virginia On-Time Graduation Rate
ACPS 2025 Strategic Plan Goal:
Goal 2: Instructional Excellence
ACPS will ensure that all students have access to and engagement with high-quality instruction.
Policy: IA - Instructional Goals and Objectives
Funding Source or Fiscal Impact (where applicable)
File Attachment:
220923_Board_Brief_Preliminary_2022_Virginia_On-Time_Graduation_and_Dropout_Rates_v1.pdf
220923_Attachment1_ACPS_2022_On-Time_Graduation_and_Dropout_Figures_v1.pdf
Agenda Item Summary: This brief and the attached figures are intended to provide the preliminary Virginia On-time Graduation and Dropout rates for students who entered ninth grade in SY 2018-19 and were thus scheduled to graduate in the 2022 cohort within Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS). In comparing this year’s graduation rates to the previous year, it is important to note that the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) issued emergency guidelines that allowed additional diploma pathways for students in the previous year’s cohort based on the impact of the pandemic. Overall, the On-Time Graduation rate decreased by eight percentage points to 83% from the all-time high seen last year and returned to rates seen in previous years. The overall cohort Dropout rate increased by four percentage points returning to a level still below the combined average of the dropout rates seen from 2013-2020. Student groups with the greatest one year decline in On-Time Graduation rates and increases in cohort Dropout rates were the English Learner (EL) and Hispanic student groups.
Background: Starting with the graduating class of 2008, the state of Virginia began calculating “On-Time” graduation and dropout rates. The “on-time” rates, reported annually, are the official state recognized graduation and dropout statistics. The Virginia On-Time Graduation Rate takes into consideration student mobility, changes in student enrollment, and the needs of special education and English learners (EL) students. An “on-time” graduate for 2022 is a student who entered ninth grade for the first time during the 2018-19 academic year and, in four years or less, earned one of the Virginia Board of Education recognized diplomas: Advanced Studies, Standard, Modified Standard, Applied Studies, and General Achievement diplomas.
Recommendation: The Interim Superintendent recommends that the School Board review the 2022 Virginia On-Time Graduation and Dropout figures for possible planning, procedural, programmatic, and/or budgetary changes.
Approvals:
Recommended By:
Signed By:
Dr. Clinton Page - Chief Accountability Officer
Signed By:
Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt - Interim Superintendent