ActivePaper Archive Graduation rate tops N.M. - Hobbs News Sun, 4/4/2018

Hobbs Schools

Graduation rate tops N.M.

Picture

Hobbs Municipal Schools had the highest district graduation rate last school year among all New Mexico districts with 5,000 or more students.

That was the report Dr. Suchint Sarangarm made to Hobbs School Board members during their March meeting.

A total of 86 percent of students who entered the Freshman High School in 2013 graduated four years later according to a cohort study compiled by Sarangarm, the district’s assistant superintendent for data and instruction.

Las Cruces Public Schools was second in the statewide district graduation ratings with 85.5 percent of students successfully completing school. For comparison purposes, nearby Roswell posted a 65.8 percent graduation rate, Carlsbad had a 69 percent graduation rate and Clovis posted 77.9 percent as a district.

Districtwide graduation rates are determined by calculating the number of students who enter ninth-grade, then giving weighted proportions to students who transfer in or out of the d i s t r i c t during the time period before their scheduled graduation. Students who earn a GED or a certificate of completion are not included in the graduation rate.

As an individual school, Hobbs High School was again at the top of New Mexico’s 24 6A high schools with an 88 percent graduation rate in 2017 compared to a 71 percent average statewide. Highland High School in Albuquerque had the lowest graduation rate with only 54 percent of students earning a diploma.

Sarangarm said the district’s graduation rate rose dramatically when HMS set a goal several years ago to increase the mark, then added programs and adjusted curriculum standards. Hobbs High had a 70 percent graduation rate in 2011, but exceeded its 85-percent district target cohort graduation rate with last year’s 86 percent.

Of significance was the 84 percent of Hobbs High School economically disadvantaged students who graduated in 2017, Sarangarm said. Low-income students can fall into an at-risk category as shown by the 66 percent of like students who graduated from high school statewide.

In other business at March’s meeting, the Hobbs School board discussed line-item changes to the Hobbs School Board Policy Manual — a 1,000-plus page document that governs day-to-day operations within the district.