Indiana’s Graduation Rate Improves to 84 Percent (IN)

December 21, 2010

After spending four years in Indiana high schools, 84 percent of students graduated last year, which is a slight increase over the previous year and a step closer to the state’s goal of a 90 percent graduation rate.

Much of the increase came in "subcategory" populations with traditionally lower graduation rates: African-Americans, Hispanics, students who speak limited English and those who receive free and reduced-price lunches.

And the dropout rate of 6.4 percent was lower than the percentage of students who are still enrolled in school though they did not complete their degrees in four years, which is 7.4 percent.

The Indiana Department of Education released the latest round of statistics Monday, showing that 64 percent of high schools improved their graduation rates from the 2008-09 school year to the 2009-10 school year.

Thirty-six percent of Indiana high schools graduated at least 90 percent of their students, a goal that State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett has set for all high schools.

The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. topped the state’s average by 3 percentage points, with an 87 percent graduation rate.

Several Evansville-area schools easily topped the 90 percent mark. Signature School, for example, graduated all of its 59 seniors last year. Memorial High School graduated 205 out of 206.

Mater Dei High School’s graduation rate was 98 percent, while Reitz High School’s was tops among EVSC schools at 96 percent and the Evansville Day School’s was 91 percent.

Every school in Warrick, Gibson and Posey counties outperformed Indiana’s 84 percent average.

Those rates are for students who earned their diplomas in four years. While most who are not included in that percentage have dropped out, some are completing their degrees in more than four years.

Statewide, 43 percent of schools graduated between 80 percent and 89 percent of their students. Thirteen percent graduated between 70 percent and 79 percent.

And 8 percent of schools graduated fewer than 70 percent of their students.

"I am proud of our parents, educators and administrators who clearly a re challenging our students in the classroom to give their very best academically," Bennett said in a statement announcing the results.

Bennett and Gov. Mitch Daniels are pursuing a package of education reforms that Bennett believes will help push the graduation rate higher.

Among those are factoring student achievement, and not just degrees earned and years of experience, into teacher pay and offering more charter schools and vouchers for parents who want to send their students to private schools.

The two will try to advance those initiatives when the Republican-led Indiana General Assembly convenes Jan. 5 for its four-month session.

"We have allowed ourselves to erode because of complacency and agreement," Bennett said in an interview Monday.