Savannah Chatham County Public School System teachers, students and counselors faced disrupted learning experiences since March 2020 because of the COVID pandemic. By developing a new plan of action,they came out of it with a 90% graduation rate the class of 2020-21. This was an achievement school officials are proud of.
"So, like everyone, we were concerned," said Bernadette Ball-Oliver, associate superintendent for secondary schools. "I think what helped is that as we beganto phase back in, our counselors and advisors had the ability to establish meetingswith those students."
What it takes to graduate
Following a seven-year trend, the school districthas seen its graduation rate increasefrom 87.1% to 90%. In order for students to graduate, theyneed 24credits and must maintain a grade of 70 or higher in required courses, includingfour years of math, English, science and social studies. Students receive four credits each in English, math and science. Forsocial studies, students earnthreecredits, and a half credit eachin American government and economics.
In addition to these core requirements, students also need world language credits based on their particular pathways. On the college track, students are required to take two credits of a world language, although three are recommended. Students on the Career, Technical and Agriculture Education (CTAE)pathway need one credit in a world language, but two are recommended.
Students on the CTAE track must take four additional CTAE courses and 3 electives. Students on the college pathwayneed six electives.
All students are required to take physical education and health courses, which are both a half credit. In addition to course work, students must complete at least 20 hours of community service by the end of their junior year in order to graduate.
The graduation rates
Among the district's10 high schools and 11 programs, eighthighschools recorded graduation rates of nearly 90% or higher. Numbers shown here are senior class size/number graduated/percent graduated:
- Savannah High Early College: 45/45/100%
- Woodville-Thompkins Career and Technical School: 162/162/100%
- Savannah Arts Academy: 231/233/ 99.1%
- Johnson High School: 173/202/ 85.6%
- New Hampstead: 332/342/97.1%
- School of Liberal Studies at Savannah High: 124/134/92.5%
- Windsor Forest: 232/251/ 92%
- Jenkins: 230/254/90.6%
- Islands: 210/236 89%
Ball-Oliver said the biggest increase was at Savannah High in its liberal studiesprogram, where graduation rates increased7% between the 2020 and 2021 school years.
Based on data from the Georgia Department of Education (GDOE), both Beach and Groves high schools experienceddecreases in graduation rates.Beach droppedfrom 80.6% in the 2019-20 school year to 73.5% in 2020-21 school year.Groves High School saw a decrease from 76.4% to 73.8% during the same time period.
Ball-Oliver attributed the decreases in the two schools to the impacts of the pandemic. She declined to providemore information on what affected graduation rates in those two schools.She said that the district is working individually with students and graduation teams to help students get their diplomas.
Pandemic challenges and pivots
Once the district decided to switch tovirtual learningduring the 2019-20 school year, according to Ball-Oliver,the district organizedgraduation teams comprised of teachers, mentors, administrators, social workers, and counselors from each highschool to meet the needs of each senior student. Ball-Oliver said the process included home visits.
Savannah High School of Liberal Studies Principal GequettaJenkins"and her team have done a lot of work around making surestructures are in place to support those students, like before, after school, during school and Saturday school,” Ball-Oliver said. “They implemented a lot of the same structures that you would have seen at Johnson,Windsor, Savannah Arts and Woodville."
At Beach and Groves high schools, the graduation teams meetbiweekly. At theother high schools, teams meet monthly. During the course of the pandemic, schools are continuing to focuson student needs, teams assign teacher-mentors to students, conduct daily check-ins, and reachout to parents.
Ball-Oliver said that once the district began to hold in-person learning in August2021, schools continued to providesupports for student, including one-on-one tutoring;summerbefore- and after-school programs; andtechnology to help students with learning.
She added that even though the district provides multiple opportunities for success, parents play a big role in student progress. “Our biggest partner, too, are the parents and making sure that they stay connected to the school and are part of the process.“
Student Withdrawal and Records Management (SWARM) also plays a role in the graduation teams by locating students who may have fallen through the cracks because of frequent moves or by experiencing homelessness or other interruptions in their education.
Improving communications
During the course of the pandemic, the goal, said Jenkins High School Principal Heather Handy,was to develop a relationship with the senior class. She said seniors wereassigned to an advisor and met weekly with them to discuss grades, challengesand even conducted home visits.
“So, there is a network here that can reach out to homes, but also reach out to other teachers within the school to make sure that all students are reaching those needs whatever they need at the time,” Handy said.
Todd Perkins, a 10th-grade honors teacher and graduation team member at Jenkins, said creating a structured environment for students helped improve communication. And 12th-grade math teacher Krista Broadrick said flexibility was key and likened teaching seniors to getting them across the finish line.
“It’s kind of an extra push,” she said. “They are almost there.”
English teacher Paul Sidney said the school has something called Warriors Way, which allowedschool counselors, administrators and teachers to communicatewithstudents during the pandemic.
Sidney said even during the pandemic students were still able to rise to the challenges.
"I tell them all the time you did this on a pandemic,...pat yourself on the back, you really put forth the effort, you didn't give up.And you stuck with it. So you earned that, "he said.
More:In-person senior graduations a strong possibility at Savannah Chatham public schools
One of those students who made it across the finish line in a pandemic was a 2021Jenkins graduate Georgia Kestner, who completed her senior year online.
"I learned a lot of new things online, but it was sad not being able to get the senior experience like most people," she said. "I did my entiresenior yearat home in my bedroom andworked online during the whole year."
Kestner said online learning was a lot more challenging because, at times, it was hard to ask teachers or her classmates for help.
"They definitelywere on top of us to make sure all whatwe needed to graduate," she said.
Another graduate Daniel Deloparticipatedin hybrid learning during his senior year, because it allowed him to work with a teacher and saw it as much easier than online learning.
"During school, the guidance counselors were very involved in our learning," Delosaid. "Teachers were really reaching out to students, to check-in about their grades, willing to help, ask questions and put time aside outside of the normal time to help studentscatch up from work."
At Jenkins High, principal Heather Handy credits the success from teachers, staff and the students for their hard work for making sure students were able to graduate."I have an excellent team here and I'm just reallyproud of the work that they do day in and day out to make sure these kids are successful."
To see a comparison of 2019, 2020 and 2021 graduation rates, read this article at savannahnow.com/news/.
Bianca Moorman is the education reporter. Reach her at BMoorman@gannett.com or on Twitter @biancarmoorman.
How graduation rates are calculated
Joseph Austin, executive director of accountability and assessment, said the Savannah-Chatham County Public School District receives guidancefrom both the U.S. and Georgia Departments of Education. As required by federal law, public schools across the stateuse thenational standardcalculation to derive the graduation rate: the number of students who graduate in four yearsdivided by the total number of students who form the adjusted cohort that entered in ninth grade.
Student enrollment, student transfers, students with disabilities, incarcerated students and those whohave dropped outall play a role in calculating the graduation rate, Austinsaid. When a student withdraws or transfers out of the school district to attend school in another district, a student is taken out of the graduation calculation.But, a student who drops out and is no longer enrolled in any high school remains within the adjusted cohort.
On the school level, Handy said when a student entersninth grade,students are put in a cohort and are tracked by using a spreadsheet. Handy said it helps the school to determine if a student is still enrolled, transferred or dropped out, over the course of four years.
"We are required to keep the documentation on those four years for that specific cohort," she said. "We start with the graduation cohort as ninth graders again and then we work through to their senior year."
