For the first time, the state of Virginia has released standardized numbers about how many students are graduating from high school. The new on-time graduation rate shows how many students who entered the ninth grade actually graduated in four years, accounting for transfers. Best of all, the formula is now the same across the country, so that apples-to-apples comparisons can be made about the dropout problem.
Of course, all the students who don’t graduate on time aren’t technically “dropouts.” Those who get GEDs aren’t included in the new rate, and neither are students who take an extra year or two to graduate, though the overall completion rate factors in students who get their GEDs.
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Here’s how local high schools compare. For the record, the state on-time graduation rate is 81.3 percent.
