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To: Board Directors

From: Tom NewcomeDate: March 11, 2013

Re: Graduation Rates

I hope you remember that when I presented the Annual Report in November 2012, I presented

the Graduation Rate for 2010-2011 at about 72%. I provided information about our work wewere doing with the data submission process. I explained that we had issues with the data

submission and we were working on the fix for our problems. I acknowledged our low numbers

but I provided some explanation for the low numbers. Predominantly, the numbers are a

reflection of our past practices on data collection, a change in data systems, and our decision towork forward on this data and not spend too much human capital working backwards on the

data.

Further, I explained that until we run through the complete four year cycle we would havecontinued errors in our data but to a lesser degree each year. The next set of data that will be

released will demonstrate evidence of this truth. The data for 2011-2012 which will be publicly

reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Education indicates a graduation rate of 84.62%.The deadline for submitting appeals for this data was October 2012. This was one month prior to

the Annual Report presentation. That is not able to be changed. However, as we have been

studying our problems with the data submission process we have found some of our reporting

errors. Based on what we have learned I feel comfortable reporting that if we could submit anappeal our numbers would be closer to 92%.

Actual Number Of Graduates 204______________________________________________________________

Dropped 9

Dropped To Get GED 1Retained 10

Total Not Qualified 20______________________________________________________________

Transferred But Missing Data: 11

Actual Grads Not Counted For Bad Data,Missing Diploma Type 4

Total Qualified Data Errors 15

_______________________________________________________________

TOTAL COHORT (204 + 20 + 15) 239

NUMBER THAT QUALIFY AS GRADUATES (204 + 15) 219GRADUATION RATE (219 /239) 91.6%

*These numbers do not align perfectly with the numbers in the PDE report cited below. The point of this discussion

is that we have data errors and we are trying to resolve them. One error is the attribution of students to a cohort

group. PDE has our cohort group at 234. We have it at 239.

Octorara Administration Office228 HIGHLAND ROAD, SUITE 1, ATGLEN, PA 19310-1603Phone: (610) 593-8238 Fax: (610) 593-6425 www.octorara.k12.pa.us

Thomas L. Newcome II, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

http://www.octorara.k12.pa.us/http://www.octorara.k12.pa.us/

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I expect that with the protocol changes we have made in our data collection processes and with

what we have learned about the reporting procedures we will see a number within a fewpercentage points of this number when we do the 2012-2013 reporting. At that point we should

have accounted for most of the processing errors in our system. The gap between 72% and 92%

was largely non-educational error. The final gap between 92% and 100% must be addressedprogrammaticallythis is educational programming.

Summation:

We have done a poor job in providing to the State the data needed to accurately reflect ourGraduation Rate. We will do a better job moving forward.

The truth about our Graduation Rates has always been known by those that have been involved

in the conversation. We have about ten students per year that drop out or go to get their GED.

We have about ten students per year that do not graduate on time. These numbers move up anddown slightly depending on the actual class size.

Nobody is satisfied when even one student drops out. We continue to try work on ways to

eliminate this.

We want all students to graduate on time. We will continue to work toward this goal. However,graduating late is a better option than not graduating.

2011-2012 Data Summation From Pennsylvania Department of Education File

Grads Cohort Grad Rate

Total 198 234 84.62%

Males 116 135 85.93%

Females 82 99 82.83%

Blacks 24 29 82.76%

Hispanics 13 15 86.67%

Whites 161 189 85.19%

Economic

Disadvan 42 56 75.00%

Special Ed 34 47 72.34%

NOTE: If we remove our data errors each of these numbers will go up as demonstrated in our data in the first chart.

The mission of the Octorara Area School District, through a partnership among school, community and family,is to promote educational excellence in a safe, secure environment, empowering our students with

the skills necessary to be successful, responsible members of society.