High School Graduation Rate – Indiana

Posted on February 7, 2012 by townsend

• Indiana’s graduation rate is up; so is waiver use, By Scott Elliott, February 7, 2012, Indianapolis Star: “The graduation rate at Indianapolis Public Schools gained for the fifth straight year, to 64 percent, but at some schools, many of those graduates earned diplomas without passing state exams. Those IPS graduates were not alone last school year. The statewide use of waivers – exempting students from the requirement to pass state tests in English and algebra – has been creeping up, reaching 8 percent last year. Five percent of Indiana graduates used waivers in 2005. Factors playing into that trend include pressure on schools to achieve good state ratings, the difficulty of new high school end-of-course exams students are required to pass, and the use of alternative programs that aim to keep kids in school by letting them make up credits on the side…”
• Indiana’s rate of graduation at record 85%, By Devon Haynie, February 7, 2012, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana’s graduation rate improved to 85.7 percent in the 2010-11 school year, breaking state records and increasing by 1.6 percentage points over last year. The graduation rate is the highest Indiana has achieved since the state began measuring the four-year cohort graduation rate in 2005, according to the Indiana Department of Education, which publicly released the data today. A record-high 171 public schools reached 90 percent or more of their students graduating in four years. In 2009, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett listed a 90 percent gradation rate as one of his primary goals for most Indiana schools…”