After four straight years of improvement, the Rowan-Salisbury School System saw its graduation rate drop this past academic year, according to figures released today by the state.
Rowan-Salisbury’s four-year graduation rate for the 2013-14 school year was 80.3 percent. Last year’s rate was 82.9 percent and the previous year’s was 81.1 percent.
Among Rowan-Salisbury’s traditional high schools, Carson had the highest four-year graduation rate at 90.2 percent, slightly above West Rowan’s rate of 90.1 percent.
Salisbury High had the lowest rate at 72.3 percent.
Other traditional high schools’ graduation rates were: East Rowan, 83.5 percent; North Rowan, 79.3 percent; and South Rowan, 75.9 percent.
The Rowan Early College graduation rate was greater than 95 percent. Henderson independent, the system’s alternative school, had a 37.5 percent rate, according to the state.
The statewide four-year graduation rate was 83.8 percent.
Recognizing that some students take longer to graduate, the state now also tracks those who graduate within five years of entering high school. This past year, that rate was 84.4 percent for Rowan-Salisbury. That’s up from 82.7 percent last year and 79.2 percent the year before.
In Kannapolis, A.L. Brown High’s four-year graduation rate was 83.3 percent, down from 84.9 percent last year. It’s five-year rate was 85.2 percent.