Magic number for state’s 2014 high school graduation target is 6,900

• By WILL SENTELL
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Oct 21, 2009 - Page: 9A

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The state needs to produce an additional 6,900 public high school graduates over current levels in the next five years to meet its lofty graduation goal, a top official said Tuesday.

The aim is for 80 percent of high school graduates to finish on time in five years, up from 66.6 percent this year.

The 2014 target was spelled out in a state law approved earlier this year. It is two years earlier than a state panel set a few years ago.

“We are not taking the 80 percent goal lightly,” said Debbie Schum, director of high school redesign for the state Department of Education.

The latest national high school graduation rate is 73 percent. The rate for 16 Southern states is 72 percent.

Schum made her comments to the Louisiana Workforce Investment Council.

The panel helps oversee policies on education, training and other steps to bolster the workforce, especially amid persistent employer complaints that many jobs are unfilled because workers lack key skills.

The state has about 180,000 public high school students. Figures on how many graduate on time each year were not immediately available.

Schum said state officials, through regional gatherings like one in Hammond on Tuesday, are huddling with principals of Louisiana’s 420 high schools to improve the graduation rate.

Current state programs could produce another 3,900 high school graduates over current levels by 2014, she said.

Schum said those and other programs need to be in place for the next school year, which is this year’s eighth-graders.

One piece of the graduation puzzle, she said, is Louisiana’s new “career diploma” option.

Under that plan, students take a curriculum different from students who plan to attend a four-year university.