The Historic Class of 2015

In June 2005, when I became the principal of the largest high school in Delaware, the low graduation and high dropout rates exasperated policymakers and community leaders. In the bleak statistics was a number begging further examination. A number that went unnoticed and unpublicized. A number that pinpointed the students my high school had failed.

These students made it to the end of their 4th year of high school but failed to graduate. In June 2005, these students constituted 12% of the senior class. In May 2005 there were 440 seniors, but that June only 385 seniors graduated. That’s 55 students lost at the last minute. This was the challenge I tackled for my Ed.D. thesis. For a synopsis of this research, see the May 2009 Kappan article “Lost at the last minute.”

Ten years later, I am proudly writing about a historic moment in this school’s history. In May 2015 there were 480 seniors in my high school; in June 2015, 464 students earned their diploma. Only 16 students were lost at the last minute…that’s 3% of the senior class.