More than ninety percent of Henderson County Public Schools’ high school students graduated in four years or less in the 2014-15 school year.
This is exceeding the state’s four-year cohort graduation rate of 85.4 percent and earning the school system a ranking of 14th out of 115 public school systems in North Carolina.
The district’s five-year cohort graduation rate was also the 16th highest among the state’s public school districts.
AT 90.5 percent, the HCPS 2014-15 four-year cohort graduation rate increased one percentage from last year’s rate and surpassed the North Carolina’s 85.4-percent rate – the highest in state history – by 5.1 percentage points.
A four-year cohort graduation rate measures the number of graduates who started together as freshmen and completed high school in four years, and that number has been steadily increasing for the past seven years, jumping 11.1 percent since the 2007-08 school year.
The district’s five-year cohort graduation rate for 2014-15 was 90.8 percent, compared to the state’s rate of 84.9 percent, and measures those graduates who started together in ninth grade and took five years to graduate – such as those students enrolled in Early Colleges.
Henderson County Early College’s program is designed to take five years, since students graduate with both a diploma and two years of college work completed.
Graduation rates continue to rise, even as the state requirements for high school graduation become more rigorous; the state requirements have been gradually increasing over the past twenty years and students today are required to earn more course credits than prior groups of students.
All graduates must earn the following minimums: English (four credits); Mathematics (four credits, through Math III plus a fourth math); Science (three credits); Social Studies (four credits to include Civics and Economics, World History, American History I: Founding Principles and American History II or AP US History); Health and Physical Education (one credit); and electives (which can include world languages, Career and Technical Education, JROTC, art, theater and music courses, or other elective courses).
Henderson County students are also required to complete a Graduation Project, which includes research, spending at least ten hours with a mentor, and a final presentation to judging panels.
(Written by Molly McGowan Gorsuch, HCPS Public Information Officer.)