Alabama’s Graduation Leap: High School Students Surpass 90% Graduation Rate

Alabama high school students are graduating at a higher rate, education experts said during the Alabama State Board of Education’s meeting on Thursday.

Officials are expecting that the changes would result in extra cash from state lawmakers.

Alabama high school students graduated at a rate of 90.04% in 2023, up 1.84% from the previous year. The College and Career Readiness Rate, which assesses the number of students who meet one or more readiness factors, rose by five percentage points within the same time period, from 79% in 2022 to 84% in 2023.

These advances were mostly due to College and Career Readiness awards, which the Alabama Legislature initially financed with $10 million in the fiscal year 2023 supplemental education budget and $15 million in the fiscal year 2023 Education Trust Fund budget.

“Of all the things we do, this is what I’m most proud of because the policy came from the board, the Legislature funded it, our staff has made it work, and we’re already seeing the numbers going up,” Eric Mackey, the state superintendent, said in a statement.

Educators are now seeking for $17 million in the next 2024 supplemental education budget.

“The CCR grants came from a discussion of board members around this table, that if we’re going to require all of our students to have CCR to graduate, we need to support our schools to get there,” he added.

“So let’s go ask the Legislature for money, but let’s not say everybody gets the same amount; let’s allow these folks to work with the district to develop what works best at that school, and let’s target more money to the places that have the most need.”

Alabama lawmakers are now working on the fiscal year 2025 Education Trust Fund budget and other education spending proposals totaling over $11 billion. The requested $17 million for the CCR grant program is included in the supplemental bill, which was passed by a House committee last week.

Sean Stevens, the ALSDE’s state curriculum leader who is assisting in the management of the new award program, stated that, while the improvement in graduation rates may appear insignificant, the 1.83% increase, when applied to the 41,890 high school grads in 2023, represents 766 additional graduates.

“We want every student in Alabama to graduate and become a successful citizen, and so you can see by just the increase; 1.83% may not sound like a lot to some, but it’s tremendous to go from 88.21% to 90.04%,” Mr. Stevens stated.

“That’s attributed not only to the efforts of our (school) districts but solid record keeping and ensuring that no one’s giving up on students.”

Melissa Shields, ALSDE’s associate state superintendent of student learning, stated that the grant program had demonstrated benefits other than increased graduation and college and career readiness rates.

“When we’re talking about CCR, this is not just for high schools; we are having opportunities K-12, we are trying to build a pipeline with our students on how they can receive all sorts of industry credentials,” Shields said in a statement.

“We’re reviewing data to see what jobs are available in your area. We realize that many of our communities want to maintain their top kids, so we’re looking into what career tech opportunities are available.

The CCR awards are provided directly to school districts, with priority given to districts with a 15-point or higher disparity between graduation and College and Career Readiness rates, with some individual schools getting nearly $400,000.

According to Stevens, grant funds have been used for a variety of objectives, including college, company, and industrial trips, exam preparation for kids and instructors, and scholarships.