Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — This week, more than 40,000 Utah seniors will graduate from high school. It's an exciting milestone for them and a milestone for Utah, where graduation rates have gone up statewide in recent years.
Last year, 81 percent of Utah students graduated. That's about even with national rates, but almost a 10 percent increase over four years previous.
The gap between minority students is closing. Scores there have gone up 17 percent in the same time period.
This seems like encouraging news, but KSL dug further into the numbers and found graduation rates among schools and even school districts differ dramatically.
Granite District has a 71 percent graduation rate. That means more than one in four kids drops out.
Looking at two schools with similar demographics, Kearns High has a 66 percent graduation rate, but Hunter High’s rate is 82 percent.
What takes Hunter above its neighboring school, above the district and the state average?
Graduating is a given for most students at the school.
“I’m taking all the classes I need to graduate, making sure I pass all my classes,” said student Cambry Kindt.
Another student, named Teresa, said, “I’ll be the first one to graduate out of my family. So, I definitely want to keep pursuing that and be able to graduate with my class.”
Utah graduation rate
- 2009: 72%
- 2013: 81%
Hispanic student graduation rate
- 2009: 51%
- 2013: 68%
Utah graduation rate by district
- Granite District: 71%
- Salt Lake District: 73%
- Davis District: 89%
- Jordan District: 84%
- Kearns High: 66%
- Hunter High: 82%
Students sign a "commitment banner" from their first year at the school, pledging to graduate. It hangs there all year as a reminder. That's just one visible thing the school has done to create a culture of graduating.
“Over the past three years, what we have looked at is strategies or interventions that we can implement that will help reduce the failure rate and increase our graduation rates,” explained Principal John Welburn.
Teachers work together and issue frequent progress reports, so students and parents get early warnings of trouble. Teachers also hold intervention days to help students really master concepts. And students have the opportunity to re-test or get extensions or re-cover credit.
“It’s been a shift from simply teaching to more of a focus on student learning,” Welburn said.
Students feel that shift.
“I think the teachers and staff here, they just care,” one of them said. “They want you to succeed. They want you to push yourself.”
“I never feel uncomfortable asking questions about anything,” Kindt said. “If I had anything about graduation or grades, they’re always like, a great help. It’s never a struggle.”
The numbers reflect their efforts. Hunter High has gone from a 76 percent to an 82 percent graduation rate, with the same student demographics of schools with far lower numbers.
“Hunter High has really tried to set a goal of, what does college and career readiness mean and how do we get there?” Welburn said. “That doesn't mean we water things down by any means. We want to keep the expectations high, but we want to help the kids in any way that we possibly can.”
