From the Alabama Reflector
About 91% of high school seniors around the state graduated in the 2023-24 school year, according to numbers released last week by the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE).
“We, of course, hit this mark before the pandemic. Then we took a dip. We’re back up above pandemic levels and again tied for second highest graduation rate in history,” Mackey said after the Alabama State Board of Education (SBOE) meeting.
The highest reported graduation rate was 91.7% in 2020, but those numbers are not complete due to a waiver the board sent to schools that did not require them to report their accountability numbers.
The state’s reported graduation rates in the past have sometimes brought skepticism and controversy. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Education said the state’s graduation rates had been inflated due to poor oversight and improper calculations of graduation rates among students with disabilities.
Two years later, the U.S. Department of Education asked questions about sharp improvements in the graduation rates of students with disabilities.
Messages seeking comment from ALSDE on the prior controversies were left Friday and Monday.
Mackey also said that the state has a college and career readiness rate (CCR) at 87%. He said the gap between the two indicators has closed in recent years, but the gap is due to schools not requiring CCR indicators.
“So our gap between graduation and college and career readiness right now is only about 5% as we move toward requiring CCR for graduation in just a couple of years,” he said.
There are nine indicators that determine a student’s readiness for life after high school, according to ALSDE. Some of those indicators are earning a benchmark score in any subject area on the ACT exam; earning a qualifying score of three or higher on an Advanced Placement exam; enlisting in the military before graduation; and earning college credit while in high school.
Starting with the class of 2026, every student must complete one of the indicators in order to get their high school diploma.
School and district-level data, usually released in the fall with the state and federal report cards, is not yet available.
In 2023, 88.21% of students graduated and 79.07% of students were college and career ready.
According to a Thursday American Enterprise Institute report, Alabama ranked first in the nation for the lowest chronic absenteeism in the 2023-24 school year.
“We’ve been in the top five for several years, but we’ve kind of bounced it back and forth with some others,” Mackey said. “So we’re really glad to see that again, our schools are taking this seriously. They are reaching out and working with families, parents and community agencies, and now we have the best attendance rate in the country.”
Chronic absenteeism peaked during the pandemic, and according to the report, states have struggled to get the number to its pre-pandemic status.
“Beyond absenteeism’s toll on students are the burdens it creates for teachers and administrators. Teachers face more demands to reteach content and differentiate instruction for students who are frequently absent,” Nat Malkus, the author of the report, wrote. “School and district leaders must divert more of their scarce resources to reengage students. Focusing on curbing absenteeism is surely not what teachers and leaders want to be doing—nor is it the best use of their time.”
