Lassiter High School graduation rate tops Cobb schools for 2018

Lassiter High School graduation rate

The Cobb County School District announced today its graduation rates for 2018, and Lassiter High School is tied for the best in the county.

Lassiter students graduated at 95.6 percent, the same at Harrison High School in West Cobb. Walton High School was right behind at 95.1, while Pope’s graduation rate was next, at 94.1.

Sprayberry’s graduation rate was 86.2, Kell was 83.8 and Wheeler was 77.3, according to the Georgia Department of Education, which released figures for all public high schools in the state (you can view the spreadsheet here).

Cobb schools said the overall cohort graduation rate for all 16 of its high schools is a district record of 85.18 percent, an increase of 1.7 percent from last year and above the statewide average of 81.6 percent.

In the metro Atlanta area, only Fulton County schools (86.8 percent) had a higher graduation rate than Cobb.

Sprayberry was one of several Cobb high schools that has had a significant increase in its graduation rate, up 5.3 percent since 2014.

In a release issued by Cobb schools, Sprayberry teachers Carlos Barrera and Amy Pothel said that staff recognizes the school’s diverse student body. “We provide additional support such as individualized tutoring, more opportunities to master the standards, and assistance with college applications and scholarships,” they said.

The method for calculating graduation rates is mandated by the U.S. Department of Education. It includes all students enrolled during a four-year period, even for a single day of classes.

Cobb schools said when only students enrolled in a county school were counted, the graduation figure is 90.5 percent. For those students who are enrolled in Cobb for all four years of high school, the rate rises to 97.1 percent.

The Georgia overall graduation rate of 81.6 percent is an all-time high.

Grad class size # Graduates 2018 rate 2017 rate
Kell 382 320 83.8 87.9
Lassiter 565 540 95.6 95.7
Pope 474 446 94.1 91.8
Sprayberry 435 375 86.2 85.5
Walton 675 642 95.1 94.5
Wheeler 520 402 77.3 81.1
Cobb 9,041 7,701 85.2 83.6

 

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Wheeler graduation rate up nearly 10 percent since 2013; 3 East Cobb schools above 90 percent for 2017

Wheeler graduation rate, East Cobb graduation rates
East Cobb News file photo of Wheeler High School

The Cobb County School District released graduation rates for the last four years on Wednesday, and all six high schools in East Cobb have remained steady or had moderate rises in the last five years. The Wheeler graduation rate, which has jumped nearly 10 percent in that time, is one of the biggest increases in the district.

The statistics show that Walton, Lassiter and Pope were among the six high schools with graduation rates exceeding 90 percent in 2017.

Kell and Sprayberry reported graduation rates in the mid-to-high 80s. At Wheeler, where the graduation rate was 71.2 percent in 2013, it now is 81.1, a boost of 9.9 percent.

The only gains larger than the Wheeler graduation rate were at Osborne, Campbell and South Cobb, whose jumps were in double digits.

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East Cobb SAT scores: Walton, Lassiter, Pope, Wheeler among best in Georgia

Sprayberry had the biggest increase in its graduation rate from 2016, from 81.7 percent to 85.5.

“We don’t allow students to make mistakes that will cost them graduation. We prepare our students for life after high school,” Sprayberry principal Joe Sharp said in a statement issued by the CCSD, adding that “all the students know there are adults in the building to support them in their goal of graduation.”

Harrison High School led all of Cobb with a 2017 graduation rate of 96.3, followed by Lassiter (95.7), Walton (94.5), Pope (91.8), Hillgrove (91.0) and Allatoona (90.1).

Cobb’s graduation rate for 2017 is 83.6 percent.

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 5-Year Trend
Kell 80.6 78.5 84.7 85.0 87.9 +7.3
Lassiter 91.4 91.5 93.8 94.5 95.7 +4.3
Pope 91.9 88.0 91.7 93.4 91.8 -0.1
Sprayberry 82.4 80.9 72.0 81.7 85.5 +3.1
Walton 90.8 92.7 94.1 96.1 94.5 +3.7
Wheeler 71.2 70.5 79.4 80.7 81.1 +9.9
Cobb 76.5 78.2 81.4 83.8 83.6 +7.1