The DeKalb County School District's cumulative graduation rate for the 2018-2019 school year was 73.4, down more than a percentage point from the previous year's record 74.9 rate.
Wednesday morning, district officials touted gains in student subgroups and increases in most of the district’s high schools since 2016, current Superintendent Steve Green’s first year. Arabia Mountain graduated all its 322 students, followed closely by DeKalb Early Career Academy and DeKalb School of the Arts, which both graduated all but one of their seniors.
The district continues to lag behind the state average, up this year to 82.
“The latest graduation rates are a bittersweet reminder that DeKalb County School District has made great strides in the past four years, but still has plenty of work to do to ensure all students succeed in college, a career, or the military,” Green said.
The district's graduation rate has risen about 14 points since 2013, partially due to changes to the state's algorithm for determining who is counted.
Seven years ago, Georgia began to use what is called a "four-year adjusted cohort," which counts students earning a diploma within four years of entering high school. It also requires districts to track students who transfer out of their system.
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