For Immediate Release – January 13, 2009

Contact:  Delia A. Taylor, APR, Taylor Media Services, 225-931-0286 or taylormedia@bellsouth.net or Superintendent Bill Spear, 225-686-7044 or bill.spear@lpsb.org.

Cohort Graduation Rates Show

Livingston Parish Among Top Five in State

LIVINGSTON, La. – Four out of every five students who enter 9^th grade in Livingston Parish earn a diploma in the traditional four-year time frame, according to a report issued last week by the Louisiana Department of Education.

According to the state’s calculation of the 2007 Cohort Graduation Rates, 81.3 percent of the students in Livingston Parish who entered the 9^th grade graduated four years later.  The Cohort Graduation Rate is one of several calculations required to be reported as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Livingston Parish’s rate is the fifth highest in the state. The five districts with the highest 2007 Cohort Graduation Rates were Beauregard Parish, 87.3; Allen Parish, 85.3; Jackson Parish, 83.4; Zachary Community District, 82.8; and Livingston Parish, 81.3.

Livingston Parish’s latest Cohort Graduation Rate is more than a percentage point higher than the prior year’s rate of 80.2. A breakdown of Livingston Parish’s individual high school rates shows the following:

·         Albany High School, 85.4

·         Denham Springs High School, 80.8

·         Doyle High School, 77.2

·         French Settlement High School, 78.5

·         Holden High School, 85.7

·         Live Oak High School, 84.7

·         Maurepas School, 83.3

·         Springfield High School, 78.7

·         Walker High School, 82.7

The state average rate for 2007 was 65.9, which improved from 64.8 the prior year. The state calculated the cohort graduation rates for 62 school districts and 271 individual high schools. 

Livingston Parish School Superintendent Bill Spear said much attention has been focused recently on reducing the number of high school dropouts nationwide and in Louisiana.   He noted that the state’s recent push to have more school-to-career programs, including vocational classes in the fields of welding, automotive, medical assistance and culinary, for example, are aimed at reducing dropout rates. 

He said Livingston Parish’s high schools have instituted credit recovery programs, and they are making available alternative school placements, cognitive tutors, summer remediation, and summer school, to give students multiple opportunities to “stay on track” and complete their high school educations in the allotted four-year time frame.