Graduation Rate Tops 96 Percent at District 1 High Schools

The two high schools in Sheridan County School District 1 had a nearly 97 percent graduation rate last year. That’s according to a report from the Wyoming Department of Education that was released Tuesday and that was announced by School District 1 Superintendent Pete Kilbride at a meeting of the district’s trustees Tuesday night.

Kilbride said of the two who didn’t graduate, one was a student who chose to go into the SCOPE program in Sheridan. He said she successfully completed that program. The other student who didn’t graduate, Kilbride said, was an online student who chose to be homeschooled. The graduation rate for Big Horn and Tongue River high schools exceeded the average graduation rate statewide. Jillian Balow, Wyoming’s superintendent of public instruction, said the statewide graduation rate was just over 82 percent – and marked the sixth consecutive year of improvement from 2013 when slightly less than 78 percent of the state’s high school seniors graduated.

Kilbride attributed the success in District 1 at least partly to a focus of building administrators and teachers on the district’s interventions.

Kilbride said the district has student intervention teams at each school building, and the teams meet every week to talk about students and identify those who are struggling academically, socially and/or emotionally. When a student is identified as struggling, he said, the team focuses on providing specific help for that student.