Anoka Times

University Elementary School issued the following announcement on March 30.

(03/30/2022) Graduation rates for students in the Anoka-Hennepin School District continue to increase with district totals for 2021 at 92.8% graduating from the district’s five traditional high schools. Anoka-Hennepin continues to outpace the state graduation average overall, as well as in all student groups. More students are also staying in school yielding an overall dropout rate of 2.0%, compared to the state average of 4.1%.

 

“These results reflect a massive commitment by teachers and students to maintain and grow success at our five comprehensive high schools,” said Superintendent David Law. “They persevered through the disruptions of the pandemic and delivered high results that are a source of pride for our district. Our ability to remain in-person learning to the extent possible is certainly a contributing factor,” he added.

 

Andover High School recorded the highest graduation rate at 97.4%, which is their all-time high.  Champlin Park High School is also at their all-time high graduation rate of 93.5%, as is the district with 88.7% of students across all sites, both traditional and alternative, meeting four-year graduation requirements, an increase of 2.5% of students over last year.  

 

High School graduation rates at five traditional high schools (all schools rates in parenthesis)

	2019	2020	2021
Anoka-Hennepin	91.7 (88.6)	92.3 (86.2)	92.8 (88.7)
State	83.7	83.8	83.3
Andover	95.89	96.23	97.40
Anoka	90.94	88.76	91.07
Blaine	93.79	94.84	94.28
Champlin Park	92.17	93.00	93.46
Coon Rapids	85.25	88.04	88.47

Of the 16 student groups measured, all 16 earned diplomas at rates higher than the state average for that group. The 2021 results make ten years that the graduation rate for Black students has outpaced the state average for this student group, consistently about 10 points above the state rate. Four of Anoka-Hennepin’s traditional high schools each had 85% or more Black students graduate in 4 years. In addition, all five traditional high schools have a graduation rate gap between Black and white students of approximately 8% or less, with the districtwide Black-white gap at approximately 9% considering all traditional and alternative schools.  

 

Districtwide, all student groups saw increases in graduation rates with 14 of the 16 reported student groups at the highest they have been in reported history. The multi-racial student group saw substantial increases for the second year in a row, increasing from 69.2% in 2019 to 84.3% in 2021. In addition to Black students, multi-racial students and students experiencing housing instability had graduation rates about 10% or more higher than the state average, while American Indian students’ graduation rates at about 25% higher than the state.

 

“These numbers reflect a continued trend of improving graduation rates. Our staff provided extended time for students to complete work, additional support during courses, and additional opportunities to recover lost credit in response to the challenges created by the pandemic and our students rose to the challenge,” said Superintendent Law. “Keep in mind that almost 90% of our graduates have earned some post secondary education credit along the way, these are students dedicated to academics and going beyond the basics to earn a diploma.”  

 

Graduation rates are one of the five main data points used to measure student performance in Minnesota’s World's Best Workforce monitoring system. Other key performance indicators include kindergarten readiness, reading well by third grade, reducing performance gaps between student groups and college and career readiness.  

 

For more information on statewide graduation rates, visit the Minnesota Department of Education’s website.

Original source can be found here.