All four Hancock County public school districts surpassed the state average graduation rate of 88.1 percent, according to a new tally of 2018 statistics by the Indiana Department of Education.
Two districts saw their graduation rates for the class of 2018 rise from the year prior, while two saw slight declines.
Though it boasted the highest graduation rate in the county for at least the third year running, Southern Hancock schools saw a slight decline — less than a percentage point — last school year. Just over 96 percent of the New Palestine High School class of 2018 graduated last spring.
Mt. Vernon schools raised its graduation rate to 95.8 in 2018 from 92 percent in 2017. Eastern Hancock School saw the opposite: 92.17 percent of seniors graduated in 2018 compared to 95 percent in 2017.
Greenfield-Central schools saw its highest graduation rate since the new formula for calculating the rate was adopted a decade ago, Principal Jason Cary said. In 2018, 91.67 of Greenfield-Central High School seniors graduated, up from 90 percent in 2017.
Cary said he’s proud of the work the students, staff and faculty have done, but he’s setting his sights on a new goal.
“This is not something new that just happened,” Cary said. “This is the result of a lot of hard work and planning that has been years in the making. We made the graduation rate our top priority last year, and we got a new record. This will only motivate us to work harder until we have the highest rate in the county.”
Superintendent Harold Olin echoed Cary’s comments. He said he’s pleased with the progress the district has made, but he’s far from content. Continuing the hard work will only mean a greater impact on future graduation rates, he said.
G-C typically has the lowest graduation rate among the county districts, in part because it has most families that face economic uncertainty. Studies have shown that poverty has a significant influence on performance in school.
Eastern Hancock Superintendent Vicki McGuire said in a statement about her district’s results: “We are always pleased with our accomplishments. We remain above state average but continue to strive for even higher graduation rates each year by continuously monitoring student needs to see where interventions are needed for academic and graduation purposes.”
While officials at New Palestine High School are happy with the 2018 numbers, they’re not satisfied, Principal Keith Fessler said. He credits the high percentage rate to the hard work of students, teachers and parents.
“We try to work together to identify students who need extra support and work with them to stay on track,” Fessler said. “It has to be a team effort.”
Wes Anderson, district public relations director, said the district embraces a holistic approach in pushing students toward graduation day.
“Every teacher or staff member in our district from pre-kindergarten all the way up to grade 12 plays a role in helping students graduate,” Anderson said. “We’re all proud of the work they do each day,” he said.
Mt. Vernon High School Principal Greg Roach said Mt. Vernon continues to follow a seven-step plan to increase its graduation rate that was established a decade ago, when the school’s rate was 88.9 percent. The plan includes extra counseling, online class options, summer school, meetings with teachers during student resource periods and other support, he said.
When the graduation rate saw a slight dip from 94 percent to 92 percent in 2017, Roach said, teachers and staff members redoubled their efforts to provide support to students at risk of not graduating. That year, more students took credit-recovery summer school classes, which Roach believes helped boost their graduation rate to over 95 percent.
“There’s always going to be some fluctuation,” he said. “One hundred percent is our goal, but 95 percent is pretty good; it takes many hardworking teachers and staff members to have the success of 95.8 percent students graduating in a school year.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Here are the graduation rates for the class of 2018 in Hancock County schools, as reported by the Indiana Department of Education.
Southern Hancock: 96.3 percent
Greenfield-Central: 91.67
Mt. Vernon: 95.8
Eastern Hancock: 92.17
This story was written by Caitlin VanOverberghe, Rorye Hatcher and Kristy Deer of the Daily Reporter staff
