LaGRANGE — Troup County School System’s graduation rates raised slightly this year by 0.4 percent compared to last year, but still falls well below the state average.

Georgia’s public high school graduation rate this year was 78.74 percent, compared to 72.5 percent in 2014. Troup County’s rates went from 71 percent in 2014 to 71.4 percent this year, which is still a drop from 72.6 percent recorded in 2013.

Troup High School had the highest of the system’s three high schools with 75.8 percent of students graduating, a 3.4 percent increase over last year. Both LaGrange and Callaway high schools’ rates dropped from last year. LaGrange High School came in at 70.7 percent this year compared to 72.1 percent last year and Callaway High’s rate for 2o15 fell to 67.2 percent compared to 67.7 percent in 2014.

In total, this year Callaway recorded 160 graduates, Troup High 232 grads and LaGrange High 263 for a total 655 graduates out of a potential graduating class of 918.

“We have initiatives in place to improve the graduation rate,” said Karen Cagle, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and professional learning, in a press release. “It is important for our community to continue to work together to promote success for all students.”

Some of those initiatives named by school system officials to help the graduation rate include the creation of THINC College and Career Academy, additional professional learning for teachers and technology-based curriculum, and a recent field study and assessment expected to provide insight into classroom learning.

This is the fifth year Georgia has calculated the graduation rate using the adjusted cohort rate, which is now required by the U.S. Department of Education. The four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate defines the cohort based on when a student first becomes a freshman; it is calculated using the number of students who graduate within four years and includes adjustments for student transfers. In contrast, Georgia’s former graduation rate calculation defined the cohort upon graduation, which may have included students who took more than four years to graduate.