SCHS Graduation Rate Goes Up; Surpasses State Average

Stephens County High School sees an increase in its graduation rate.

According to numbers released Monday by the Georgia Department of Education, the graduation rate at Stephens County High School went from 85.3 percent in 2014 to over 91 percent in 2015.

Principal Sandy Steele said that the graduation rate increase is the result of a team effort not just at Stephens County High School, but throughout the whole school system.

“To achieve a rate of 91.2 percent is just ultra-gratifying,” said Steele. “It is good because those numbers represent students, students that have gone on and completed those four years, completed all their school years. A rate like that is not possible without the hard work of everyone. It goes from not just the high school, but Pre-K through 12 and all comes together right here. I am very proud.”

The Georgia graduation rate uses a measurement method known as the Cohort method.

It is something that the state switched to a number of years ago and is essentially a four-year graduation rate.

Steele said it is a more accurate measurement of graduation.

“It takes a student was your student in the ninth grade and makes sure they complete all four years on time,” said Steele.

Looking elsewhere around the region, Habersham Central High School had an 88.5 percent graduation rate in 2015, Franklin County High School had a graduation rate of 91.6 percent in 2015, and Banks County High School’s 2015 graduation rate was 92.5 percent.

The statewide graduation rate in 2015 was 78.8 percent. That is an increase from the 2014 graduation rate of 72.5 percent.