Graduation Rates Continue Upward Trend

Graduation rates in Menomonee Falls continued their six-year overall upward trend in 2009-10.

According to new data released by the Department of Public Instruction, the district's graduation rate was 96.3 percent using the DPI’s new four-year cohort formula. Using the traditional legacy formula, the graduation rate rose to 98.9 percent in 2009-10.

In the 2003-04 school year, graduation rates at the district reached 99.4 percent. The following year, the graduation rate dropped by 3.9 percent to 95.3 percent. But since 2004-05, graduation rates have been on an upward trend.

“It’s so essential in these times that we do everything we can to help students to successfully meet all the requirements needed to get a diploma,” said Superintendent Keith Marty.

Both the legacy rate and four-year cohort rate measure the number of students graduate. However, the legacy rate is a snapshot of one year of senior students. The four-year data tracks number of students that graduate from one group of students starting their freshman year.

“I think it’s good to have a couple measurements of graduation rates,” Marty said. “However, our goal is to have 100 percent of our students graduate - no matter how it’s measured.”

The statewide graduation rate was 89.9 percent in the 2009-10 school year, which is up from 89.4 percent in the 2008-09 school year. But using the four-year adjusted cohort formula, the state’s rate is at 85.7 percent.

“Wisconsin has traditionally had one of the highest, if not the highest, graduation rates in the nation,” State Superintendent Tony Evers said in a press release. “We should be proud of this accomplishment as we work to ensure every child is a graduate. But we all know that even one dropout is too many.”

According to Wisconsin DPI, 413 of the state’s 584 public and charter high schools had a graduation rate above the state average and 75 high schools had a 100 percent legacy graduation rate.

The legacy rate had been used in Wisconsin since the 2003-04 school year. DPI said by the 2012-13 school year, it will report both four-year and six-year adjusted cohort graduation rates.

Evers said reporting two graduation rates gives a more comprehensive picture of student's transition from high school in Wisconsin.

The state saw 64,687 public school students graduate in the 2009-10 school year.

Gradutation Rates in Menomonee Falls and Wisconsin

Source: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction