Published: August 29, 2008 04:59 pm            

WHS tackles drop-out rates

Principal outlines plan to ensure students a diploma

Carman Williams

cwilliams@weatherforddemocrat.com

The first week of school has come and gone. It’s time to plan for graduation.

If that seems a little premature, remember the Texas Education Agency begins measuring graduation rates four years in advance.

This shows the completion rate for every class based on the number of students who have come in and out of the high school.

The agency tracts the percentage of ninth graders who graduate in four years or return for a fifth year of high school.

The TEA places students in four categories: White, Hispanic, African-American and low-income.

Each category must reach a 75 percent graduation rate to be academically acceptable.

Although it earned a Recognized status in the 2007-08 school year, only 67.8 percent of low-income students graduated Weatherford High School in 2007.

Dr. David Belding, the principal of Weatherford High School, is committed to raising those numbers.

“Weatherford ISD is extremely focused on the completion rate,” Belding wrote in an e-mail. “Our mission is to ensure all our students finish high school and we are committed to this endeavor.”

Belding explained changes in the TEA calculations, such as counting students pursuing GEDs as drop outs, affected Weatherford High School’s completion rate in 2007.

The graduation rate for the entire student body was almost 90 percent, he added.

Belding also described how the school will encourage completion among its students.

“We are going to implement a TAKS remediation for students who have completed all coursework, but have yet to pass a section of the TAKS test,” Belding wrote. “In addition, we will continue to use the PASS program to assist students who have fallen behind on credits. This program has proven to be very successful moving students forward at an accelerated rate to recover credits.”

Belding added the district isn’t just relying on additional programs to prevent drop outs.

“We are going to be aggressive at recovering students who do not return from the summer to ensure each student has enrolled in a school to complete their education,” he wrote. “This may mean some investigative type work to locate all our kids, but we are committed to seeing this through. We have created a process to ensure no student “falls through the crack” and will work diligently to make sure our students are successful in graduating from Weatherford High School.”

        

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