Wake schools seek 100% graduation rate

RALEIGH -- The Wake County school board agreed today on a goal of having a 100 percent graduation rate by 2014.

School board members and administrators acknowledged that it would be extremely difficult to reach the goal, calling it “aspirational.”

Currently, 78.8 percent of Wake’s high school students are graduating on time in four years.

School officials listed ways today to make sure Wake is moving closer toward the new goal of 100 percent graduation. But no specifics were given on how Wake would try to reach the goal.

Earlier this year, school officials said it would take a significant increase in funding to start and expand academic programs to raise the graduation rate. In light of the national and local economic crunch, it won’t be easy to get a major increase in funding.

Wake’s graduation rate is higher than the state average of 70.2 percent. But the gap has been closing, as Wakes graduation rate fell from 82.6 percent two years ago.

Still, the publication Education Week reported earlier this year that Wake has the 6th-highest graduation rate among the nation’s 50 largest school districts.

To get to 100 percent, Wake would have to raise the graduation rate to 90 percent by 2010 and 95 percent by 2012.

Previously, the school board had been looking at a goal of 95 percent of students graduating by 2015. But board members said anything less than 100 percent would give the perception they were giving up on some students.

To help measure the progress toward the goal, the district will look at more than 20 measures, including:

* Increasing the percentage of students proficient in the state’s math and reading end-of-grade exams in elementary and middle schools;

* Increasing enrollment and proficiency in algebra I in middle school;

* Increasing the average SAT score; and

* Increasing the number of students enrolling in second languages courses in elementary, middle and high schools.