Administration credits system-wide involvement
Oglethorpe County School System leaders celebrated an increase in the graduation rate — now at 95.8% — with cupcakes that spelled out the percentage.
The dessert display was delivered not just to the high school, but the primary, elementary, and middle schools.
“This is not just a high school celebration,” Oglethorpe County Superintendent Beverley Levine said. “It starts in kindergarten, and really, in pre-K, we start molding the kids to be lifelong learners.”
Oglethorpe County’s High School’s graduation rate has climbed in six of the past seven years, even as neighboring school systems’ rates dipped slightly in 2023.
OCHS Principal Bill Sampson said graduation is a focus in his building.
“From the day they come in as ninth-graders, and we have the first class meeting, we're telling them, ‘OK, you're the class of 2023 … and there's not one of you that we can afford to lose,’ ” Sampson said.
Oglethorpe County’s graduation rate increased 1.6% from 2022, and is more than 10 points above the state’s rate of 84.4%. The county is also only one of 43 districts in Georgia with a graduation rate at or above 95%, according to the Georgia Department of Education.
Two key elements of this higher rate for the county were a 100% graduation rate for Black students and a 96.2% graduation rate for “economically disadvantaged” students, which the Georgia Department of Education classifies as students receiving free or reduced lunch.
Hispanic students in Oglethorpe County had a graduation rate of 88.9%, and other subgroups, such as Native American, Asian/Pacific Islander, multiracial, English learners and students with a disability were listed as “too few students” to report.
“We are really focused on every individual that comes in with (a) cohort,” Sampson said. “There's just a lot of checks and balances in place so that when that student might be struggling, or they get caught in a rocky place, we're trying to do everything we can to pull them out.”
Compared to graduation rates, Oglethorpe’s standardized testing Milestones scores were lower among its regional district neighbors, varying from 11th to third among the 13 public school districts in its Northeast Georgia Regional Education Service Agency, depending on grade level and subject.
But Levine said one factor behind higher graduation numbers comes from the “soft skills” the schools teach — like work ethic. Also, the county’s relatively small school system also allows for a hands-on approach with students and families, Sampson and Levine said.
“Perseverance, that doesn't show up on necessarily the reading Milestones, (but) that it shows up on your graduation rates,” Levine said. “(It’s) teaching our kids that it's OK if you don't get it the first time. It just means we need to put in a little bit more work.”
Oglethorpe County’s graduation rate hasn’t always been above the state average.
In 2012, the county’s graduation rate of 69.3% was four-tenths of a percent lower than the state average.
Levine said the 2017 opening of a Foothills Regional High School at Oglethorpe County High School, offering classes outside of normal high school hours, has helped students graduate outside of the “traditional high school experience.”
Less turnover in leadership roles, a focus on student development in the first two years of high school, and strong relationships with counselors and other mentors were also key factors, Sampson and Levine said.
“It's a village approach to keeping them on track to graduate in four years,” Sampson said.