MOULTRIE, Ga. – It’s not quite the spike from 2018 to 2019, but the high school graduation rate in the Colquitt County School System is still trending in an upward direction.

On Tuesday, the school system released two graduation rates for the Class of 2020, one for the district and one for Colquitt County High School. The district rate, which takes into account all students who entered the high school cohort four years ago, improved from 85.4 to 87.2 percent.

Colquitt’s district was just below 80 percent, 79.58 percent, for the Class of 2018 but shot up nearly six percentage points to the 2019 number.

The Colquitt County High School graduation rate went slightly down in 2020 to 88.3 percent from 88.6 percent in 2019.

The students who enter the ninth grade for the first time in a school year form a cohort. This number is adjusted as the years go by based on those who transfer in and out of the system. The adjusted cohort at the start of the senior year – or fourth year – is used to determine the graduation rate by the Georgia Department of Education.

“This district rate includes the Colquitt County Achievement Center (CCAC), which was a school like Colquitt County High School up until July of 2019, and C.A.Gray Junior High (CAG), which is considered a high school since it has ninth grade in it,” Marni Kirkland, assistant superintendent of curriculum & instruction, told The Moultrie Observer. “If a student withdraws without transferring officially to another school from those two schools or CCHS, they count against the district graduation rate. The Georgia Department of Education does not assign a graduation rate to CAG because the school does not have a 12th grade, so the rate at which students who attended that secondary school can only show up in a district graduation rate.”

“The district’s efforts to support all students from pre-k to graduation is evident by the growth in our graduation rate,” said Superintendent Doug Howell. “This does not happen by accident; it is a purposeful decision to put the individual needs of students at the forefront of all actions. While there are still hurdles to overcome, we are educating students through positive relationships and building successful futures for all.”

The Georgia Department of Education provides districts with school and system graduation rates.

“(The high school graduation rate) includes the percentage of students on roll at CCHS when graduation occurs that graduated within four years of their 9th grade enter date,” said Kirkland. “This past year, CCHS’s roll included students previously part of the CCAC. The CCAC became part of the high school on July 1 of 2019 when it became a program and no longer a school. Previously, the CCAC was given its own graduation rates by GADOE.”

“While I never make excuses for score declines, I am somewhat pleased that we held in the 88th percentile bracket given the unprecedented cessation of school on March 13, 2020,” said CCHS Principal Jamie Dixon. “Our graduation rate is a direct reflection of the hard work that our students and teachers accomplished during the shortened 2020 school year. The future is bright at CCHS. Our pursuit of excellence continues as we have developed a completely new instructional delivery model. Our goal is to serve all of our students in a way that will allow everyone to chase their dreams.”

Georgia calculates a four-year and a five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate as required by federal law. This rate is: The number of students who graduate in four years (five years for the 5-year graduation rate) with a regular high school diploma, divided by the number of students who form the adjusted cohort for the graduating class.

Colquitt County’s district five-year graduation rate came in at 87 percent, 90.4 for the high school. Both are higher than the percentages for 2019. The five‐year graduation rate is included to acknowledge the work schools do to keep students in school who need additional time to meet requirements to graduate.

Georgia’s high school graduation rate increased again in 2020, rising almost two percentage points to 83.8 percent from 82 percent in 2019.