Milton's Graduation Rate Tops in North Fulton

Graduation rates for Georgia's four-year public high schools have been released, and most North Fulton schools are way above the state average. Milton High turns out graduates at a rate almost 30 percent higher than the state average.

The Georgia Department of Education released the new, four-year public high school graduation rate: 67.4 percent. The new calculation, known as the adjusted cohort rate, will allow states to uniformly compare graduation rates across the nation. Graduation rates may appear to have dropped with the new method even though more students have graduated.

•                       96.48
• Chattahoochee HS          89.96
• Northview HS                 89.38
• Johns Creek HS              88.71
•         86.84
•                85.76
• Centennial HS                 74.70
• Roswell HS                     68.55
•                 38.55
• Fulton County avg.         70.05
• State                             67.44

“The new formula provides a more accurate, uniform look at how many students we are graduating from high school,” said State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge. "I believe that in order to tackle a problem you have to have honest and accurate data. We will be able to use this new data as a baseline to see how our important initiatives are impacting graduation rates in the future."

Historically, states have calculated graduation rates using varying methods, creating inconsistent data from one state to the next. The new calculation means that the graduation rate may appear dramatically different even if the number of students who actually graduate hasn't changed.

"We’ve known for some time and communicated that this new formula would show a lower graduation rate than the rate under the previous formula; however, regardless of calculation formula, the state has significantly raised graduation rates over the last several years, but there is still much work to do," Barge said.

Momentum for all states to produce a comparable four-year graduation rate began in 2005 with the leadership of the National Governors’ Association. Governors of all 50 states made a commitment to a common method for calculating each state’s high school graduation rate by signing the Graduation Counts Compact.