Superintendent supports on-time graduation idea

Waynesboro Schools Superintendent Robin Crowder thinks the on-time graduation numbers now compiled annually for Virginia public schools can be helpful to the Waynesboro Schools.

Speaking Thursday to the School Board, Crowder said despite data-entry problems with Waynesboro’s report for its class of 2008, the state report will in the future help the Waynesboro Schools. He said the on-time report will help Waynesboro in identifying teaching strategies for subgroups of students whose graduation rates might not be as high as others.

On Wednesday, the Virginia Department of Education released the first on-time graduation rates, starting with the class of 2008.

The numbers indicate the percentage of students who earn a Board of Education-approved diploma within four years of entering the ninth grade for the first time.

Waynesboro’s reported on-time number of 76.9 percent is inaccurate because of students being counted multiple times and a student who left to attend another school division.

The data-entry issues likely mean the school district had a higher rate of on-time graduation.

Crowder said his office continues to talk to the Virginia Department of Education about a possible adjustment to Waynesboro’s numbers.

And to assure there are no further issues on the school district’s end, Crowder said the director of technology, Jody Lohr, will soon become data manager for the rest of the year. There, she will help oversee the entry of data that goes to the state department of education.

Crowder said if there is any issue with the on-time program, it is that students do not always graduate from high school in four years.

“On-time does not mean all kids are not graduating. It may take a Hispanic student five years to finish,” he said.

Crowder said that much like with Virginia’s Standards of Learning accountability testing program, he anticipates the on-time graduation rates will increase in Waynesboro and across the commonwealth in the coming years.