MCPS's Graduation Rate Tops State Average

The state has implemented a new formula for determining graduation rates, and Montgomery County Public Schools has a higher percentage than the Maryland average, according to a report released Friday.

Using the new formula, MCPS graduated 86.2 percent of its students, above the state average of 82 percent.

Calvert County had the highest rate in the state, graduating 91.7 percent of its students under the new formula.

"However you calculate the graduation rate, Montgomery County is doing well and is outperforming public schools across the state," Board of Education President Christopher Barclay said in a statement. "However, we will not be satisfied until every student in our schools is graduating on time and ready for college and the careers of the 21st century."

The new formula, called the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate, takes into account all of the dropouts, transfers, deaths and graduations over a four-year period. This is the first year Maryland is using the method, and it promises to produce more useful statistics for administrators, according to the state.

The old method, called the leaver formula, divides the number of graduates in a school year by the number of students enrolled at the start of the year. Using this measure, MCPS graduated 90.7 percent of students compared to the state's 87 percent.

Poolesville High School had the highest rate in the county, graduating 98.6 percent of its students under the new formula and 100 percent under the old one. had the lowest rate, with 76.2 percent in the cohort method and 82.8 percent using the leaver formula.

You can find each high school's rates here.

The released rates are part of Maryland's Adequate Yearly Progress report, which is mandated by No Child Left Behind. Superintendent Joshua Starr has that NCLB has outlived its utility, and from the law's requirements.