CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) announced this week that high school graduation rates increased to 81.7 percent in 2017-18, which marked the fifth consecutive year of improvement from the class of 2013’s 77.6 percent graduation rate.

Sweetwater County School District No. 2 in Green River finished just outside the top 10 in the entire state, graduating 92.34% of its students. However, Green River ranked #1 in the larger district category, according the SWCSD #2 Superintendent Donna Little-Kaumo.

“Our success really stems from a strong commitment to examine student progress weekly and intervene right away when a student’s grade dips,” Little-Kaumo said. “All 9th grade students are assigned an upper class mentor. The mentors help students to become familiar with the high school environment and serve as a point person to help during the 1st year.”

Little-Kaumo said the intervention program is designed to support students immediately when the grades show that help is needed. These two strategies are intentional in our effort to support students’ success on their road to graduation.

“Our success is truly a team effort,” she added. “Our educational staff’s dedicated work along with student effort and parent support makes this all happen. We continue to strive for a 100% grad rate and are pleased with our rates thus far on this quest.”

Lincoln County School District #1 and Sublette County School District #1 finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Full graduation rate statistics are available here.

“We set high goals for graduation rates in our plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act, and this increase – for a fifth straight year – just proves that when we work hand-in-hand with our school districts, good things continue to happen,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow.

“Raising the graduation rate is a conscious, concerted effort by all. For students getting a high school diploma is a watershed moment – and it means they are now ready to start a career, go off to college, or join the military.”

Fifteen Wyoming school districts posted graduation rates of 90 percent or above:

Fremont #2: 100.00%
Fremont #6: 100.00%
Park #16: 100.00%
Sheridan #3: 100.00%
Lincoln #1:  97.50%
Sublette #1:  97.18%
Weston #7:  95.45%
Big Horn #2:  94.74%
Platte #2:  93.33%
Uinta #4:  93.22%
Sweetwater #2:  92.34%
Big Horn #4:  91.30%
Platte #1:  91.18%
Big Horn #3:  90.91%
Park #1:  90.48%

Since the 2009-10 school year, the WDE has calculated graduation rates using the Federal Four-Year Adjusted Cohort methodology established by the U.S. Department of Education, complying with federal law that requires all states to calculate graduation rates the same way.

Students are counted in the four-year, “on-time,” high school graduation rate if they earn a diploma by September 15 following their cohort’s fourth year. Five- and six-year graduation rates are also calculated, and can be viewed with the rest of the graduation rate data.