Dexter High School's graduation rate remains strong

As the statewide graduation rate dropped in the past year, Dexter Community Schools’ rate remains strong and has even seen an increase in the past seven years.

In his report to the board of education at the Feb. 28 meeting, DCS Superintendent Chris Timmis updated the board and community on the release of statewide data on graduation rates.

The Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information recently released the four-year high school graduation rates for schools across the state. 

According to the numbers, the statewide rate dipped last school year for the first time since the 2015-2016 school year. The statewide data on the four-year high school completion rate is at 80.47 percent. One other data point provided does say the graduation rates within five or six years of starting high school did go up last school year across the state.

Timmis said Dexter High School’s rate is at 98.2 while across all district programs it’s at 97 percent.

In 2014, the DCS graduation rate was in the 90 percent range.

There are DCS programs that are outside of the traditional high school pathway.

In addition, some students will need more than four years to graduate, such as students with a cognitive impairment, Timmis said.

The data cited by Timmis was broken down into a four-year cohort. He said as soon as a student begins ninth grade “the ticker starts.”

Looking at the data, Timmis said these are pretty good numbers considering it included time during the pandemic.

He said the school district’s focus is on helping all of its students get to graduation.

He noted that with this cohort some students may have moved or went into homeschooling, so it’s hard to track them and their progress.

For DCS administration and staff, Timmis said they will continue to work to improve.

He said it’s been a point of focus over the years and they are seeing some things paying off.

One way DCS has maintained a strong rate is by having some other program options for students that are outside of the traditional high school pathway. These include Alternative Education, Early College Alliance and Early Middle College. 

Timmis said another area of focus that’s helped have been the pathways to success they have set up for fifth through eighth grade students.

According to the DHS website, Alternative Education is an invitation-only high school program for students who have been identified by Dexter High School staff as students who might thrive in this program.

The Early College Alliance, according to the DHS website, is “a unique educational program designed to fully immerse high school-aged students into the post-secondary learning environment. ECA is a public, early/middle college program located on the campus of Eastern Michigan University. It exists in partnership with local school districts, including the Washtenaw Intermediate School District.”

Early Middle College is designed to allow a student to earn a Dexter High School diploma and either an associate's degree, up to sixty transferable college credits, or a completed Washtenaw Community College Certificate.