High School Graduation Rates Hit 13-Year Low in Montgomery

Montgomery County's high school graduation rate has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to state data, continuing a trend of declines that county officials said they will investigate.

From a high of about 93 percent in 2003, the graduation rate had fallen to 87 percent for the class that graduated in the spring, according to state data released this week. The decline was most pronounced among Hispanic students, whose graduation rate was 88 percent in 2003 but 77 percent for the Class of 2009.

Montgomery ranked 11th among Maryland's 24 jurisdictions. It placed behind neighboring Howard and Frederick counties, both of which are smaller, but ahead of similarly sized Prince George's County, where the graduation rate was 85 percent.

The decline was first reported in the Washington Examiner.

"The bottom line is, we are looking into the data to see what it tells us," said Brian Edwards, chief of staff for Montgomery Superintendent Jerry D. Weast. "There are a variety of different avenues we will look at in the data to see what the reason is for this slight decline in our graduation rate."

The county's rate fell from 89 percent last year to 87 percent for the Class of 2009. That is the lowest graduation rate recorded since 1996, when the state changed the way it measured the statistic.

In recent years, Maryland has been better able to track students who transfer out of a school system. If officials cannot determine that a student has enrolled elsewhere, he or she is counted as a dropout, a factor that could contribute to the drop in the graduation rate.

Montgomery has also experienced a demographic shift as more Hispanic students have enrolled and the number of poor students has risen.

The percentage of high school students receiving free and reduced-price meals in Montgomery, a common measure of poverty, has risen from 14 percent in 2003 to 22 percent this year, according to state data. The number of Hispanic students has increased from 25,000 in 2003 to almost 31,000.

But officials said they are committed to having all students graduate, regardless of socioeconomic status or ethnicity.

"Obviously, we need to peel back the layers of the onion and see what's going on here," said school board member Patricia O'Neill (Bethesda-Chevy Chase). "It has to be watched and analyzed as a district and watched and analyzed at individual schools."

The graduation rate at Northwood High School in Silver Spring was 79 percent, below the state's minimum standard of 85.5 percent. As a result, it failed to achieve "adequate yearly progress" this year under the No Child Left Behind law.