NSCD graduation rate drops

Alex Hargrave
Posted 2/4/21

NIOBRARA COUNTY – High school graduation rates in Niobrara County dropped in the 2019-20 school year.

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NSCD graduation rate drops

Posted

NIOBRARA COUNTY – High school graduation rates in Niobrara County dropped in the 2019-20 school year.

According to data published by the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) last week, Niobrara County School District No. 1 graduated 42.9%, or 33 of its 77 seniors on time last school year. This rate includes that of Wyoming Virtual Academy, which accounts for the majority of NCSD students. According to NCSD Superintendent George Mirich, just 14 of the 77 seniors attended Niobrara County High School.

The graduation rate among the 2019-20 brick-and-mortar cohort was 85%, he said.

In the 2018-19 school year, NCSD posted a 56.5% four-year graduation rate, and in the past five years, the rate stayed above 51%. The 2018-19 school year saw a 56.5% graduation rate.

WYVA enrollment has skyrocketed this school year, as the pandemic forced students around the state to learn online anyway in the second half of the spring, and the same set up threatened to stick around for the fall. At a Jan. 11 NCSD school board meeting, WYVA Head of School told the board the school currently has 1,122 students with an additional 80 waiting to be accepted into the program.

This figure is nearly double that of the 2019-20 school year, Heywood said at the meeting.

Of 77 expected 2019-2020 cohort graduates, 40 were categorized as “lunch eligible,” according to WDE data. NCSD graduated 42.9% of lunch eligible students last year. Two of 15 students with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), 13.3%, in the 2019-20 cohort graduated in four years, per WDE data.

The state’s 48 school districts combined posted a four-year graduation rate of 83.3% in 2019-20, from 82.1% in 2018-19, marking the seventh straight year of improvement, according to a WDE press release.

“When we work hand-in-hand with our school districts to make sure every student can succeed, good things happen,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow in the release. “Wyoming continues to set high standards for our graduates, which is reflected in our plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act, and evidenced in the graduation rate increase. That it’s our seventh-consecutive year for an increase demonstrates that our plans, our partnerships, are working.”