Detroit Public Schools’ Graduation Rate increased 6.5 percentage points from 2013 to 2014 – to 71 percent, outpacing the improvement by the state of Michigan as a whole and helping to close the gap with peer districts. The district’s graduation rate is up more than 11 percentage points since 2011.
“This 6.5 percentage point gain in our graduation rate — and our 11 percentage point gain since 2010-11 — shows that our academic plan is working, particularly at the high school level, closing the gap with the state as a whole, which improved 1.62 percent.” said Karen Ridgeway, DPS Superintendent of Academics, adding that the DPS dropout rate also fell from 22.64 to 18.31.
Ridgeway credited ongoing and new initiatives to ensure better data, as well as better individualized student monitoring.
“We have put in place a rigorous, data-driven program, in coordination with teachers, principals and counselors, to constantly monitor students’ on-time graduation progression. We wanted to make sure we decreased the number of students in summer school and keep as many students as possible on target to graduate on time; and we did everything possible, from intense counseling sessions to credit recovery, to make sure our students not only understood when they lost credit but also understood how to regain those credits and get back on track toward graduation as quickly as possible. These gains are a testament to the intensive collaborative work of our entire team of educators — particularly our Office of Guidance and Counseling– to ensure student success, and we will only strive to do more of this to make sure our students continue to improve.”