GEAR UP NC Outpaces the State

 

GEAR UP North Carolina outpaced the state in increasing high school graduation rates at target high schools between 2005 and 2012 with a 12.1 percentage point increase for GEAR UP North Carolina target schools, compared to a 11.5 percentage point increase for all public high schools in North Carolina. Most notable is that GEAR UP North Carolina works with qualifying schools that are considered low-income, where the average free-and-reduced lunch rate for target GEAR UP North Carolina high schools is 56.6%, compared to the state average of 45.2%. GEAR UP North Carolina serves the entire cohort of students and their families in qualifying low-income schools by providing early awareness of college information and academic readiness services with the goal of increasing the number of students who enroll and succeed in postsecondary education. To achieve this goal, GEAR UP North Carolina strives to increase the high school graduation rate, among several other objectives.  

GEAR UP NC Target School Districts and High Schools: 2005-12

 

During the 2005-11 academic years, GEAR UP North Carolina served cohorts of students in the following school districts and target high schools. Districts with an asterisk (*) participated during an extension year (2011-12) of the grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education (PR #P334S050004).

·         Asheboro City (Asheboro High School)*

·         Beaufort County (Washington High School)

·         Cleveland County (Shelby High School)*

·         Columbus County (West Columbus High School)

·         Craven County (West Craven High School)

·         Gaston County (Bessemer City High School)*

·         Graham County (Robbinsville High School)*

·         Granville County (JF Webb High School and JF Webb High School of Health, Life & Sciences)

·         Hyde County (Mattamuskeet Early College)*

·         Iredell-Statesville (Statesville High School)*

·         Johnston County  (Smithfield-Selma High School)*

·         Lexington City (Lexington Senior High School)*

·         Martin County (South Creek High School)

·         Newton-Conover City (Newton-Conover High School)

·         Rutherford County (East Rutherford High School)*

·         Union County (Monroe High School)

·         Wayne County (Goldsboro High School)*

·         Weldon City (Weldon STEM High School)*

·         Winston-Salem/Forsyth County (Atkins High School and Glenn High School)*

 

Four-Year Cohort Graduation Rate Calculation

The rules for calculating graduation rates meet the federal requirements and the National Governors Association definition.  In North Carolina, students who leave high school for a community college GED or adult high school program are counted as dropouts under state policy. In addition, school officials only identify a student as a transfer to another high school when the receiving school requests the student's records. If the transfer is not confirmed, the student is counted as a dropout. A brief description is listed below of how the state of North Carolina and GEAR UP North Carolina calculate the 4-year cohort graduation rate for a school.

 

[Numerator]

Students who graduated with a diploma by the end of the prior school year

(e.g. - June 30, 2011)

 

Divided by

 

[Denominator]

Students in the school in the 9th grade three academic years prior (e.g. - in 2007-08) * Plus students who transferred into the school in the grade appropriate to the cohort** Minus students who transferred out of the school and students who are deceased

 

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