Graduation Ratehere Dips Slightly ; About 9 Of 10 Seniors Get Diplomas

By Brian Wallace

Garden Spot High School principal Carol Kelsall says students are more inclined to stay in school if they believe their education is relevant to their lives – both today and in the future.

They also need to feel they are succeeding in the classroom, said Kelsall, whose school has been taking steps to assure both things happen.

The efforts apparently are working because Garden Spot posted the best graduation rate in Lancaster County last year.

While the New Holland school was tops, with 98.5 percent of its seniors receiving diplomas in 2007, other county schools did a good job of keeping their students from dropping out.

Overall, more than nine of 10 seniors graduated from the county’s 16 public high schools last year, according to figures released by the state Department of Education.

The countywide graduation rate dropped slightly in 2007, to 91 percent, as eight districts posted higher numbers and eight posted lower numbers than in 2006.

Solanco High School had the biggest gain, from 88.9 percent in 2006 to 94.4 percent last year, an increase of 5.5 percent, ranking it seventh among county schools.

Donegal had the biggest decline, from 90.1 percent in 2006 to 83.9 percent, a 6.2 percent drop.

Officials at those schools could not immediately be reached for comment.

In addition to Garden Spot, the top five schools were Penn Manor, Cocalico, Hempfield and Lampeter-Strasburg.

The next five were Warwick, Ephrata, Pequea Valley, Solanco and Manheim Township.

Conestoga Valley was 11th, followed by Manheim Central, Elizabethtown, Donegal, Columbia and McCaskey. McCaskey posted a 65.3 percent rate, a decline of 1.9 percent.

Columbia, McCaskey and Elizabethtown were the only schools whose rankings didn’t change from 2006 to 2007.

The caliber of a senior class can vary significantly from year to year, and slight changes in the number of dropouts for small schools like Pequea Valley – it had just 147 seniors in 2008 – can greatly affect graduation rates.

The state calculates each school’s rate by taking the total number of graduates in a given year and dividing that number by the total graduates plus the number of dropouts over the past four years.

Kelsall attributes Garden Spot’s strong performance in 2007 to a concerted effort to counsel students against dropping out and give them alternatives to the traditional school environment.

Garden Spot has been sending more students each year to Washington Education Center, an alternative-education program run by Ephrata Area School District, she said.

There, students can work at their own pace in a less-structured setting that allows them to quickly gain academic ground, she said.

“We had over 30 students who graduated from (the center) last year,” she said. “That is a major help for some of our students.”

Garden Spot also has increased the number of student it enrolls in Lancaster County Career & Technology Center programs.

About 100 juniors and seniors attended CTC programs in construction, auto mechanics, culinary arts and other fields in 2007- 08, she said.

Garden Spot also increased its counseling efforts for struggling students, Kelsall said. If a student wants to drop out, he or she must discuss the decision with a counselor, then meet with Kelsall or an assistant principal.

In most cases, she said, the intervention convinces students to stay.

Pequea Valley High School also has implemented a more thorough program of counseling students that includes more discussions with parents, PV superintendent Pat Hallock said.

“We wanted to have more contact with the counselors and the students, their parents and families, and (the counselors) have done a wonderful job with that,” Hallock said.

The Kinzers high school boosted its graduation rate from 91.8 percent in 2006 to 94.4 percent last year.

Like Garden Spot, the school relies on the alternative-ed program at Washington and has been enrolling more students in CTC programs.

In 2007-08, it also implemented a program to identify 15 students in each grade considered the most likely to drop out of school.

A team of teachers and counselors provides them with tutoring, mentoring, counseling and other academic supports.

Principal Jason Marin said he’s optimistic the increased supports will soon result in better graduation rates.

E-mail: bwallace@lnpnews.com

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