Larger shares of Tulsa Public Schools high schoolers are graduating.
The district reports a graduation rate of 76.9 percent for the class of 2017, up 4 percentage points from the class of 2014. The district tracks graduation rates in four-year cohorts.
TPS Secondary Instructional Leadership Director Stacey Vinson said bringing back students who left school has helped push the graduation rate up. That work includes a door-knocking campaign the district instituted last year.
"We found that to be very successful for the 16–17 school year in terms of figuring out how to re-enroll some of our kids that have the possibility of graduating," Vinson said.
In addition to tracking down students who left school, the district launched a student progress dashboard.
"Teachers and administrators can look students up instantly on the dashboard and see who’s at risk, who’s off track. How can we drill down and target just those kids and see what they need to get back on track?" Vinson said.
Some individual schools have seen graduation rates improve at an even greater pace than the district overall. East Central, McLain and Webster’s graduation rates have gone up 17, 22 and 24 percentage points.
A proactive approach is behind East Central’s improvement.
"They have individual graduation check-ins with each student and parent every six weeks, and they’ve dropped that down to their junior year as well, getting them ready, really making sure that they know where those kids are and that they’re doing everything they can to provide interventions if they need them and to get back on track," Vinson said.
An analysis last year recommended boosting graduation rates as the most effective way to increase Tulsa’s per capita income.
