Nearly one in five Virginia high school seniors, or about 18,000 students, failed to graduate on time in 2008, the first year the state used a new and more accurate measure for determining the figure.
In Northern Virginia, Fairfax County graduated 91 percent of its students who entered high school in 2004-05.
Loudoun County graduated 93 percent and Arlington County fell closer to the state average at 82 percent. Alexandria schools had the lowest rate in the region at 76 percent.
The figures contrast sharply with the districts’ reported drop-out rates, a sign that the new measure reveals more nuanced information than had previously been captured.
Fairfax and Arlington reported a 2 percent dropout rate in 2006-07, Loudoun lost only 1 percent, and Alexandria lost about 3 percent.
“This measure doesn’t make the assumption that if you haven’t graduated, you’ve dropped out,” said Kathy Wills, Arlington County’s director of planning and evaluation.
Instead, students could be among those still enrolled but in need of a fifth year to complete the necessary credits. Or, they could be the next round of dropouts.
In most of the state’s jurisdictions, students have until the age of 22 to complete their high school education. Older students are often English language learners who started American high school older than a typical freshman.
In all of Northern Virginia’s districts, English language learners had the lowest on-time graduation rate. In Arlington, only 50 percent of the 195 eligible students graduated on time.
“Half graduated, another third dropped out, and the remaining 24 students could graduate next year,” said Wills, adding hopefully that “those dropouts could return, too.”
Wills said the district had measured graduation by ethnicity in the past, but never by language status. “We weren’t aware that such a disproportionate number were [language learners] as we now know they are.”
In neighboring Fairfax, 71 percent of English learners graduated on time, about 2 points higher than the state average.
“We have English learners arriving at our schools who aren’t just 18, but 19 and 20 years old,” said Teddi Predaris, who directs the district’s services for limited English students. “For them, graduating is a real challenge.”
