Officials in the largest school district in western Massachusetts say newly released data shows years of efforts to get kids to stay in school and eventually get a diploma are paying off.
Eight years ago, just over half of the students who entered one of the public high schools in the city of Springfield managed to graduate in four years. The dropout rate in 2011 was almost 12 percent compared to a 3 percent rate for high school students statewide.
When Dan Warwick was hired to be the Springfield school superintendent in June 2012, he said his top priority would be to reduce the dropout rate.
After the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released the annual graduation report Friday, Warwick said it contained “great news for the city of Springfield.” He said the 4.4 percent dropout rate in 2019 was an all-time low. The four-year graduation rate has increased 17.2 percentage points since 2012.
"We won't be satsifed until the dropout rate is reduced down to nothing," said Warwick. " But, every year we have had significant gains and I could not be more proud of our staff and our community."
At a City Hall press conference held by school department officials to highlight the positive statistics, Warwick listed several initiatives that have been undertaken including the introduction of graduation coaches, a ninth-grade transition course at every high school, expanded summer school, free classes at night and on-line credit recovery courses.
"So every child has a pathway to succeed, but it is the execution of the principals and the staff at the schools that really make the difference," said Warwick.
As the drop-out rate improved in 2019, the four-year graduation rate in the Springfield schools declined 3.5 percentage points to 73.8 percent. The graduation rate statewide was 88 percent.
Warwick highlighted three schools that he said have had some of the best improvements in graduation rates in the state: the High School of Science and Technology, which at 85.6 percent has now more than doubled the 2012 graduation rate, Central High School with a graduation rate of almost 90 percent, and Putnam Vocational High School at 91.5 percent.
Thaddeus Tokarz, the principal of Central High School, said the superintendent and the School Committee have given him and the other school administrators freedom to pursue creative ways to help students graduate. He said the high schools now make classes available to each other's students.
" We have changed our approach to working in collaboration rather than in silos and I think you are seeing he benefits," said Tokarz.
School Committee member Chris Collins praised staff and teachers who he said had worked to shape a new generation of students who value education as the means to success in life.
"This is monumental, not miniscule," Collins said about the reduction in the dropout rate. "Never forget these are not numbers, these are children. These are Springfield's children."
Springfield’s High School of Commerce continues to struggle with a 62 percent graduation rate. The school is now in a turnaround program.
As is the case statewide, there is an achievement gap along racial lines in the Springfield Public Schools. The 2019 graduation rate for Hispanic students was 69.7 percent compared to a 78 percent rate for white children in Springfield.
