Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ Class of 2008 outperformed the state on two key academic measures – the percentage of students graduating on time and the cohort dropout rate. The Virginia Department of Education has released state-, division-, and school-level data for the class of 2008 cohort which consists of students who entered the ninth-grade for the first time in 2004 and were scheduled to graduate in the spring of 2008.

Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) posted an on-time graduation rate of 84.2 percent compared to the state rate of 82.1 percent. Additionally, the VBCPS cohort dropout rate of 5.5 percent is not only below the state rate of 8.7 percent, it is the lowest of all public school divisions in Hampton Roads.

This is the first time that on-time graduation rates and cohort dropout rates have been calculated by following one class from the ninth-grade through four years of high school. In previous years, each high school’s dropout rate was determined by comparing the number of students in grades 9-12 who left school in a given year to the total number of students enrolled in grades 9-12 that same year.  Although both measures are accurate, one provides a picture of the percentage of students dropping out in a single year while the other focuses specifically on a cohort over a four year period.

Virginia Beach Schools has many programs designed to reduce the dropout rate. For example, each high school has a Dropout Task Force that works to identify at-risk students and provide assistance to potential dropouts. Students with attendance problems are referred to student support teams to discuss interventions. They are also assigned mentors and are encouraged to participate in a variety of after-school activities designed to engage students. School social workers visit regularly with parents and students who exhibit a pattern of poor attendance to discuss tutoring, mentoring, and alternative education programs. In addition, high schools have developed ninth-grade transition teams to reduce the anxiety of incoming freshmen and immerse them in the high school environment.

For more information about programs available through Virginia Beach City Public Schools, visit the school division Web site. To view additional on-time graduation rate or cohort dropout rate data, visit the Virginia Department of Education Web site.

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