A total of 88.8% of eligible Arkansas public high school students graduated in the 2019-20 school year — four years after entering ninth grade.
That was an increase from from the 87.6% four-year rate in the preceding year.
The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education on Tuesday reported the high school graduation rates for the state, school districts and individual schools in an early release of the state’s 2020 School Report Card.
The 2020 annual report includes — in addition to four- and five-year graduation percentages — 2019-2020 data in multiple categories, including attendance, enrollment, discipline, Advanced Placement exam results, per student expenditures, teacher education levels and college-going rates.
The massive amount of data is for all the public schools and districts, starting with the Academics Plus Charter Schools and ending with the Yellville-Summit School District.
However, in a break from the past, the latest state report card is missing pages and pages of data on student achievement — much of which is typically generated from state-required ACT Aspire exams given in grades three through 10.
The Aspire exams in reading, math and science were canceled last spring when the state’s schools serving more than 479,000 students were closed to on-campus instruction in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus that causes the contagious and potentially fatal COVID-19 virus.
“There is no doubt that COVID has had a significant impact on student learning,” Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key said in releasing the latest version of the annual school performance report.
“While we don’t have all the data we would like to have to measure student and school success for the 2019-2020 school year, the 2020 School Report Cards still provide valuable information that can be used to identify best practices and areas that need improvement,” Key said.
“I encourage parents and educators to review the data and use it to make informed decisions regarding student learning moving forward,” he added.
Graduation rate
The 2019-2020 graduation rate will ultimately be among the data points used to calculate the 2021 federal Every Student Succeeds Act School Index, which is a numerical measure required by the federal government to hold schools responsible for student achievement. The scores and the resulting A-to-F letter grades for schools were not calculated for the 2019-2020 school year, again because of the disruption caused by the COVID pandemic.
In addition to the four-year graduation rate, Arkansas also calculates a five-year graduation rate, which was 89% in 2019-2020. That was down from the 90.2% five-year rate in 2018-2019. But a comparison of the four-year rate in 2018-2019 of 87.6% to the 89% five-year rate in 2019-2020 shows improvement for that group of students who started high school together as ninth-graders.
The graduation rates are reported for all students and by sub-groups of students. A total of 90.9% of white students graduated in four years in 2019-2020 compared with 89.6% the previous year. The four-year graduation rate for black students improved from 83.4% to 84.5% in 2019-2020. Hispanic students also improved, going from 84.7% to 86.8% graduating in four years. Almost 94% of students of Asian ancestry graduated in four years.
Other graduation data showed that females graduated at a higher rate than males in four years, 91.3% to 86.4%. A total of 86.3% of economically disadvantaged students graduated in four years in 2019-2020, as did 84.1% of students with disabilities.
A sample of four-year results from districts and schools showed the:
• Bentonville School District had a 93.1% four-year graduation rate: Bentonville High with 3,057 students had a 92.8% graduation rate; Bentonville West, 93.5%.
• Little Rock School District had a 78% four-year graduation rate: Central High, 90%; Parkview Magnet High, greater than 95% rate; Hall, 66%; J.A. Fair, 71%; McClellan, 62.6%.
• Pulaski County Special School District, 85.2%; Maumelle High, 85.7%; Sylvan Hills High, 86.6%; Robinson High, 88.2%; and Mills High, 79.1%.
• El Dorado High School: 90.3%
Attendance
The newly released report card includes student attendance rates for the state, districts and schools for the 2019-2020 pandemic school year. For about a quarter of the year teachers had to take roll while they and their students worked from their homes.
On a state level, the attendance rate of 94.03% isn’t much less than the 94.11% in the previous, more typical school year and is higher than the 93.02% recorded in the 2018-2019 school year
The attendance rate provision in the report “indicates the average percentage of students attending school each day,” according to the definitions included in the data collection.
Other report card categories did show large changes between the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years, which may or may not be related to the COVID closure of schools for on-site instruction.
Student expulsions statewide totaled 617 this past school year, compared with 926 the previous year. And incidences of weapons on campus numbered 660 this past year compared with 787 the previous year. But, on the other hand, staff assaults increased from 2,761 in 2018-2019 to 3,112 for the 2019-20 school year, according to the state data.
The number of Advanced Placement exams given to high school students in 2019-2020 fell to 37,118 from 46,500 the previous year.
But, the number of desirable “3,” “4” and “5” scores earned on Advanced Placement exams in 2019-2020 remained almost the same at the prior year, 16,883 in 2018-2019 and 16,885 in 2019-2020.
The statewide college-going rate changed between 2018-2019 and 2019-20, dropping from 48.8% to 43.2%. And, the percentages of students who required college remediation classes rose from 64.9% to 67.1%.
The link to the annual report card is: https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/SRC.
“The goal of the 2020 School Report Card is to spur constructive and positive conversation between educators, parents, students, and the community about continuous school improvement,” Key said in an introductory letter to parents about the new report.
“School districts need parental and community support to help students achieve their full potential. It will take hard work, commitment, and cooperation to help our schools provide student-focused education that will help every student achieve success,” he said.