Montgomery County graduation rates fall

Only about 87 percent of Montgomery County Public Schools students who should have earned a diploma in 2009 actually did, down from a recent peak of 92 percent in 2003.

The percentage of graduates slipped below 90 percent for the first time in 2008, to 89 percent.

“Even [87 percent] is not good enough,” said school board member Laura Berthiaume. “It should be 100 percent. There should be no excuse for not graduating 100 percent of our kids, if not in four years, then at least in six.”

It was the lowest graduation rate for the county since the state changed the way it measured the rates in 1996.

 Montgomery placed 11th among Maryland’s 25 school divisions, behind neighbors Frederick, Howard, and Anne Arundel counties, but ahead of Prince George’s County’s 85 percent.

The lowest rates in the county came largely from schools in Silver Spring and Gaithersburg, both of which have seen dramatic increases over the past decade in their population of Hispanic and low-income students.

“We are very, very, very concerned about the potential increase in dropouts, particularly in the early high school years, among our Latino students, who face a variety of unique challenges,” Berthiaume said.

Northwood High School in Silver Spring earned the lowest rate in the county, graduating only 79 percent of its seniors. Potomac’s Churchill High earned the highest rate, 98 percent.

Because of Northwood’s poor performance, it became one of two Montgomery high schools that failed to meet the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind law. If it does not improve in coming years, it could be subject to sanctions or restructuring.

Springbrook High School, also in Silver Spring, failed to meet the law’s standards because its special education and limited-English students fell short of their targets on reading tests.

A handful of the county’s traditionally higher-performing schools have seen their graduation rates drop by at least five percentage points since 2003. Magruder High School in Rockville has dropped to 90 percent from 97 percent, while Gaithersburg’s Quince Orchard High has dropped to 88 percent from 93 percent.

“As successful as the schools say they are, parents need to be able to talk about how many students are leaving with diplomas,” said Kay Romero, president of the Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations. “At the end of all of the districts’ data, you want to know what it means to students when it comes time for them to leave school.”

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