The Virginian - Pilot June 25, 2010

HEADLINE: Ten local high schools fail new Va. graduation standards

By Lauren Roth

For the first time, the state will hold public high schools accountable for graduating about 80 percent of their students in four years.

Ten of 29 high schools and two of five school divisions in South Hampton Roads miss that mark, based on rules approved Thursday by the state Board of Education.

Virginia high schools and divisions have to graduate 80 percent of students with a standard or advanced studies diploma in four or five years. They also can pass by showing they have met that rate over time or have reduced failure by 10 percent. An earlier version of the rules counted other diploma types and GEDs, but it was rejected by the federal government.

Through last year, Virginia high schools had to reach a graduation target of 61 percent.

Norfolk and Portsmouth can expect to miss federal accountability standards based on graduation, according to calculations by the state Department of Education.

Three high schools in Chesapeake, two high schools in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Norfolk, and one in Suffolk also fall short.

The targets use graduation data from 2008 and 2009. Rates for 2010 will be calculated at the end of the summer.

David Stuckwisch, Portsmouth schools superintendent, said there's little that can be done about past graduation rates.

"Right now, we're working on this year and next year."

Gene Jones, Norfolk's executive director of high schools, said the division is tracking down students who might have graduated from other localities but were counted as dropouts. He said Norfolk has become more aggressive about dropout prevention and bringing students back to school. Attendance officers visit dropouts and offer plans to get them back in school, such as online credit recovery or re-enrollment.

"We make it clear we're not sending them to court," he said. "It's a different approach."

And at all five Norfolk high schools, a guidance director or assistant principal kept a "War Room," tracking missing credits and end-of-course tests for students in danger of dropping out. Because of these changes, Jones said he expects graduation rates to improve next year.

The average four-year graduation rate statewide was 77 percent in 2009. Many schools reached the new target by reducing failure by 10 percent.

That's how I.C. Norcom High in Portsmouth was able to pass despite a 54 percent graduation rate. The city's other two high schools - Churchland and Woodrow Wilson - missed the mark.

The new standards are awaiting the approval of the U.S. Department of Education and are expected to take effect in time for the state to declare which schools meet federal benchmarks for the 2010-11 school year.

Other benchmarks measure student participation and performance on reading and math tests. Missing any target, including graduation rates, means the school fails to meet Adequate Yearly Progress, the federal minimum standard for schools.

Schools that accept Title I federal funding can be forced to offer tutoring and school choice and can face restructuring after repeated failures to meet targets. Schools that don't take that funding aren't sanctioned, but their school divisions are expected to step in and make changes.