Washoe County School District (WCSD) officials last week announced a 3.3% decrease in its high-school senior graduation rate. School officials attributed the drop to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Superintendent Susan Enfield said the reduction is consistent with national trends, and more work needs to be done.
“Members of the graduating class of 2023 were freshmen when the pandemic forced the school district to shut down schools, launch distance- and hybrid learning, exclude students due to illness and make sweeping changes in their instructional environments,” Superintendent Susan Enfield said. “We are not satisfied with these graduation rates, and we are working to improve. Our Strategic Plan directs more targeted resources to our students so they can earn their diplomas and graduate prepared for the future they choose.
“We recognize and continue to confront the challenges that lie ahead, and we are committed to providing the support our students need to succeed,” she added.
The Nevada Department of Education changed how it calculates graduation rates to align more closely with federal policy.
“This adjustment better aligns state calculations to federal policy and also accounted for 2.9 percentage points of the 3.3 percentage point reduction in this year’s graduation rate,” officials said.
Source: WCSD
