CCSD reports slight dip in high school graduation rate after big uptick last year

By Ian Whitaker

Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015 | 12:12 p.m.

Clark County schools are making slow but steady progress toward raising once-dismal high school graduation rates, according to data released today.

The graduation rate for the class of 2014 dropped slightly from last year, from 71.5 to 70.9 percent, but school officials greeted the news with fanfare at Sunrise Mountain High School Thursday morning.

Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky said the numbers show that the district did a good job in keeping graduation rates steady since they jumped nearly 10 percent last year. The numbers were calculated a little differently this year, he said, with adult education students added into the districtwide graduation rate.

“We are pleased that 41 schools increased their graduations rates," Skorkowsky said in a statement. "We intend to improve our graduation rate every year from now on until we meet and exceed the national average."

A handful of schools improved significantly, including several high schools that were recently listed as “underperforming” by the state Board of Education.

Ten schools recorded graduation rate increases of 10 percent or more, including Eldorado, Del Sol, Burk Horizon and Desert Rose high schools. All four could be placed under the authority of a state-controlled “achievement district” proposed by Gov. Brian Sandoval if it is approved by the Legislature.

This year marks the first year in a few that the graduation rate has stayed relatively stable. In 2012, it went up by 6 percent when the district identified students who weren’t on track to graduate and focused efforts to help them.

A 10 percent jump came in 2013 after CCSD reformed the way it tracked students, many of whom were counted as “drop-outs” when they simply had transferred to another district. Until then, the district had one of the worst graduation rates in the nation. Now it hovers slightly below the state average and around 10 percent below the national average.

At Sunrise Mountain, where nearly 70 percent of the student body qualifies for free and reduced lunch, the graduation rate has almost doubled each year since 2012. Student enrollment has stayed mostly constant at around 2,500.

Principal Grant Hanevold, who was put in charge of the school in 2013 following its designation as a turnaround school, said that’s because of a simple reason.

“I was charged with the task of really changing the culture and climate,” he said. “We got rid of a lot of what wasn’t working, which means we got rid of almost everything.”

That started with 50 percent of the staff, who he replaced with educators better aligned with his vision. He said this was the most important factor in the turnaround.

“The goal was to bring in a new mindset,” he said. “I [brought in] teachers that believed kids could do it and understood why they were there.”

He managed to retain 90 percent of his staff in a district where resignations and retirements take a heavy toll on many schools each year.

Hanevold raised the bar for students, doubling the amount of instruction time for students struggling in certain subjects and putting new disciplinary procedures in place.

Every school is unique, he said, but “common sense” steps like these can make tangible improvements anywhere.

Skorkowsky’s long-term goal is to raise the graduation rate to 82 percent by 2019.