KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo Public Schools has announced what Superintendent Darrin Slade says are some “amazing” graduation numbers for the last school year.
It took the Michigan Department of Education this long to compile and verify the numbers from last spring.
Dr. Slade says the graduation rate went way up by 9.4%.
“The overall district graduation rate improved by 10%, I have been doing this for a long time, you rarely see that happen like that’s just amazing again,” says Slade.
He says the numbers went up at every high school and with every demographic sub-group, particularly with one group that has been a concern.
“African-American males improved by 20 percentage points, we’ve been talking about that for a long time, that’s a major achievement, again I would like to commend everybody involved in that.”
Slade says the state also saw graduation rates go up 1% to the highest level in state history, but Kalamazoo’s was much better.
“Not just by a little bit but a whole lot, a dramatic difference in the amount growth compared to our region and the entire state.”
That is the trifecta for Dr. Slade, achieving higher graduation rates, attendance figures and test scores, and he says the goal is to keep improving them.
It is truly an achievement to graduate high school. But does it prepare our kids properly to graduate the 12th grade if they read at an 8th grade level?