Class of 2023 hung in to beat state graduation rate

October 13, 2023 Jessica Waters

The Stephens County Class of 2023 students trounced the state rate when it came to follow-through.

The four-year cohort that made up the 2023 graduation class in Stephens County persevered through a freshman year of society-wide upheaval and educational turmoil as five letters, in all caps, turned “where’s your homework” into “where’s my mask?”

The Class of 2023 were just freshmen in the Spring of 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, and showing resilience that most adults would be grateful for, this class of students learned to navigate virtual education, scheduling uncertainty, quarantines and so much more – but 93 percent of that class stuck it out to walk across the field at the Reservation this past May and flip their tassel from right to left.

And that is significantly higher than the 84.4% state graduation rate, which was, in itself, a record high for Georgia, and up from 84.1% in 2022.

Out of 194 school districts in Georgia, only 70 had district-wide graduation rates of 90 percent or higher.

Since 2011, when Georgia joined all states in the nation in following the “adjusted cohort calculation” instituted by federal law to calculate graduation rates, Georgia has climbed from a 67.4 percent graduation rate to its current 84.4 percent rate.

In 2011, the first year of the new calculations, Stephens County had 262 seniors – 226 graduated – an 86.3 percent rate.

Stephens County’s rate has continued to rise since then, with some yearly fluctuation. In 2013, the class of 271 graduated 246 – a 90.8% rate. In 2015, the rate jumped to 91.2, but dropped to 84.6 in 2017. Five years ago, in 2018, Stephens County graduated 244 of its 272 seniors – an 89.7 percent rate, and last year, the county reached a record high, with 235 graduates out of a class of 235 – a 93.6 percent graduation rate.

Under the rate calculation process that has been in place since 2011, From the beginning of ninth grade, students who are entering that grade form a cohort that is subsequently adjusted by adding any students who transfer into the cohort during the next three years and subtracting any students who transfer out – resulting in a total class size upon which the graduation rate is calculated.

The graduate rates for school districts in Georgia do not include those students who have transferred to, or enrolled in “alternative charter schools, which, by law, provide services focused on dropout prevention and credit recovery.

Mountain Education Charter High School, which has 18 sites in 18 counties across North Georgia, including a facility in Stephens County, had a 15.6 percent graduation rate for 2023, graduating 274 out of a class of 1,582. No statistics were immediately available on how many of those 1,582 students, or how many of the 274 graduates, were from the Stephens County facility. The graduation rate is a 0.5 percent increase from their 2022 rate, and up from the low of 13.1 percent in 2018.

Stephens County 2023 – Stephens County High School class cohort size: 258, 240 graduated (93.0%)

Subgroup graduation percentage:

Black – 93.1%

Economically disadvantaged – 90.7%

Hispanic – 82.4%

Multi-racial – 90.0%

Students with Disabilities – 70.8%

White – 94.2%

Stephens County 2022 – Stephens County High School class cohort size: 251, 235 graduated (93.6%)

Stephens County 2018 – Stephens County High School class cohort size: 272, 244 graduated (89.7%)

Stephens County 2015 – Stephens County High School class cohort size: 251, 229 graduated (91.2%)

Stephens County 2013 – Stephens County High School class cohort size: 271, 246 graduated (90.8%)

Banks County 2023 – Banks County High School class cohort size: 203, 181 graduated (89.2%)

Banks County 2022 – Banks County High School class cohort size: 201, 169 graduated (84.1%)

Elbert County 2023 – Elbert County High School class cohort size:194 students, 167 graduated (86.1%)

Elbert County 2022 – Elbert County High School class cohort size:180 students, 157 graduated (87.2%)

Franklin County 2023 – Franklin County High School class cohort size: 250, 228 graduated (91.2%)

Franklin County 2022 – Franklin County High School class cohort size: 257, 232 graduated (90.3%)

Habersham County 2023 – District-Wide class cohort size 503, 492 graduated (97.8%)

Habersham County 2022 – District-Wide class cohort size 473, 461 graduated (97.5%)

Hart County 2023 – Hart County High School class cohort size: 234, 223 graduated (95.3%)

Hart County 2022 – Hart County High School class cohort size: 236, 228 graduated (96.6%)

Rabun County 2023 – Rabun County High School class cohort size: 136, 131 graduated (96.3%)

Rabun County 2022 – Rabun County High School class cohort size: 169, 155 graduated (91.7%)

Towns County 2023 – Towns County High School class cohort size: 70, 66 graduated (94.3%)

Towns County 2022 – Towns County High School class cohort size: 76, 69 graduated (90.8%)

White County 2023 – White County High School class cohort size: 276, 253 graduated (91.7%)

White County 2022 – White County High School class cohort size: 278, 251 graduated (90.3%)

Gainesville City School District 2023 – Gainesville High School class cohort size: 597, 517 graduated (86.6%)

Gainesville City School District 2023 – Gainesville High School class cohort size: 571, 485 graduated (84.9%)

Mountain Education 2023 Charter High School class cohort size: 1,582, 247 graduated (15.6%)

Mountain Education 2022 Charter High School class cohort size: 1,601, 241 graduated (15.1%)

Mountain Education 2018 Charter High School class cohort size: 1,283, 168 graduated (13.1%)

Mountain Education 2013 Charter High School class cohort size: 598, 115 graduated (19.2%)

It’s gotten easier to graduate in Georgia in recent years, with the state in 2020 eliminating four end-of-course exams. The state Board of Education voted in July to let districts count the remaining end-of-course exams in algebra, American literature and composition, biology and U.S. History for as little as 10% of a student’s grade in those courses starting this school year. The threshold previously had been 20%.

State standardized test scores fell in Georgia during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and have not yet fully recovered.

Statewide, 94% of Asian and Pacific Islander students graduated on time, as did 87.1% of white students, 82.5% of multiracial students, 83.7% of Black students and 77.6% of Hispanic students. Georgia historically has had one of the narrowest gaps between Black and white graduation rates.

Among students with disabilities, 73.2% graduated on time, as did 66% of students learning English.

The national graduation rate was 87% in 2020, the last year for which it is available.

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