Graduation Rate Inching Upward

Against the goal of a 90 percent graduation rate set by the state Department of Education, Memphis City Schools’ 69.6 percent rate looks hopeless.

Why not just set the goal at 100 percent and not worry about it?

A realistic look at the facts, however, shows that MCS is improving its graduation rate, and is involved in a worthwhile effort to make it better.

According to data released this week by the Tennessee Department of Education, the rate rose by 2.4 percentage points last year.

The oft-criticized, 115,000-student system, where 70 percent of the students qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch, is only slightly behind Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, a smaller but county-wide district, in its graduation rate.

It has an energetic leader in interim Supt. Dan Ward, who’s not acting like a caretaker just holding down the fort until a permanent successor to the departed Carol Johnson is found.

Ward’s management reorganization in November included the creation of a new section to track the progress of individual students, a move that should help maintain the graduation rate progress being made.

MCS also has added honors and Advanced Placement classes, which help attract and keep high-performing students, courses at local colleges and universities that can be taken while students are still in high school and a course recovery program that helps students catch up on credits needed for graduation.

And if Rev. Dwight Montgomery gets his way, the district will have more help keeping its students focused and goal-oriented during the hours when they’re not in class.

Montgomery, president of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, challenged Memphis ministers to provide that extra help to MCS students at an event commemorating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this week.

If churches would provide safe havens and more after-school programs to help keep children out of trouble, Montgomery said, they could help bring about the kind of change that would most effectively honor the memory of the slain civil rights leader.

There are other ways outside the school bureaucracy itself that can make a significant difference in the lives of students.

City government’s sponsorship of summer jobs and recreational activities for youth is a shadow of what it once was, and could surely be improved.

Through the school district itself, there are mentoring and tutoring opportunities for citizens who want to make a positive contribution to the future of the community.

As commendable as the progress has been at MCS, a graduation rate of 69.6 percent is still not competitive. It is more than 10 percent below the statewide average in a state where 17 percent of the adult population hasn’t finished high school or earned a GED.

With help from the community, Memphis City Schools can do better.

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Interim chief leads the charge

MCS has made significant progress, but it can do better with help from the community.

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