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For the third year in a row, the Troup County School System’s graduation rate is above the state average.

TCSS announced Wednesday that its 2020 graduation rate is 85.9 percent, which is above the state average of 83.8 percent. The school system’s graduation rate fell from 86.6 percent last year to 85.9 percent this year.

“While our overall district graduation rate dipped slightly, there is no cause for alarm,” said TCSS Superintendent Brian Shumate in a press release. “We are above the state average, and we look forward to graduating kids on time. Thanks to the staff and students that helped us get to where we did. We will continue challenging ourselves to meet the needs of all kids, no matter the circumstance.”

Callaway High School saw its graduation rate rise to 91.2 percent, the highest rating the school has ever had, according to a TCSS press release. That’s an increase of 4.5 percent compared to last year and a 24 percent increase in the last five years.

“When our leadership team came together for the first time in 2015, we evaluated a tremendous amount of data and identified many areas of strength and areas of concern,” said CHS Principal Jonathan Laney in a press release. “Our strengths were clear. We had a highly dedicated staff, an incredibly supportive community, and a great group of kids. Our deficits were equally clear. Our graduation rate was under 70 percent. Less than two out of three black students were earning a diploma and less than 10 percent of students with disabilities were graduating on time. We began a journey to reverse these trends by focusing on the climate and culture of our school.”

Troup High School saw its graduation rate decrease slightly from 87.2 percent in 2019 to 86.5 percent in 2020. LaGrange High School also saw its 2020 rate dip. LHS went from 86.4 percent in 2019 to 82.7 percent in 2020. 

The school system had a total of 726 graduates in 2020. Overall over the last five years, TCSS has seen its graduation rate increase by 14.5 percentage points in the last five years.

TCSS also released graduation percentage by subgroups. 

White students had a graduation rate of 86.2 percent, down slightly from 2019’s percentage of 87.78 percent. Black students had a 86.5 graduation rate, up 84.27 percent from 2019. TCSS has seen its graduation percentage for Black students increase 18.6 percent since 2015. 

Ninety-five percent of Asian students graduated in 2020, 73.3 percent of multi-racial students graduated and 82.4 percent of Hispanic students. All three percentages dipped from their last recorded percentage. (There is not a percentage listed for Asian students in 2019 because there has to be 15 or more students in a cohort class for the Georgia Department of Education to release subgroup data.)

Several school systems around Troup County also had fairly high scores. Coweta (91.6), Harris (89.2), Heard (88.2) were also above state average. Meriwether County’s score was 79.2.  

The GDOE releases the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate, which is required by the U.S. Department of Education. The rate is defined as the number of students who enter their high school freshman year together and graduate within four years total, and it includes adjustments for student transfers.

If students drop out or are removed from school for disciplinary reasons then the cohort group rate is impacted.