With focus on names, not a number, Highland Park reaches a historic graduation rate

The scene in the Highland Park High School library was surreal.

Principal Juli Watson had at the end of the school day Tuesday summoned all of Highland Park’s faculty to the normally quiet school space for a special announcement.

As Drake’s “Started from the Bottom” blared on a speaker, Watson announced the school had finally reached a graduation rate of more than 90%, based on preliminary but almost finalized data on the senior class of 2023.

It represents a monumental achievement for a school that for many of the past few decades had struggled to get too many of its students past that finish line.

Watson, who is in her second year as principal but has been at Highland Park for nearly two decades, called on the school to celebrate. Later in November, the school will have a 1990s-themed spirit week, to celebrate the school reaching the 90s in graduation rate percentage.

Highland Park graduation rate not so much a number, but names

The formula for tracking graduation rates changed about a decade ago, so direct historical comparisons are difficult. But Topeka USD 501 officials believe that Highland Park’s 2023 graduation rate of 90.4% is the highest in at least three decades.

For much of the early 2010s, the school struggled to graduate a substantial portion of its students, with the school often posting rates in the high 60s or low 70s in percentages.

The school in the past five years though redoubled its efforts to track and work with each individual senior student, to figure out the last remaining hurdles they might have toward graduation.

Highland Park administrators also focused on verifying data accuracy by tracking down students who were presumed to have dropped out and making sure they did not in fact earn a degree elsewhere, and if not, encourage them to return and complete their Highland Park diploma.

“Between that and giving options to our kids, they pretty much have to vanish for us to not have keep track of them (and help them graduate),” Watson joked. “They know I will find them. Sometimes, they just needed a break. Maybe they couldn’t (complete school) before, but they’re in a better place in their lives to do it now.”

That’s why the story of Highland Park’s graduation efforts isn’t necessarily the specific 90.4% figure.

“For me, it’s not a number,” Watson said. “They’re all names. They’re specific individuals, and each student needs something different.”

Highland Park's graduation rates are momentum for school

The number, however, does help bolster the reputation of a school that has often been looked down on in the Topeka community, Watson said.

While figures are still preliminary and could increase marginally by an Oct. 31 state deadline, Watson noted to faculty that as of Tuesday, Highland Park was a few tenths of a percentage ahead of Topeka West High School. Both that school and Topeka High had been trending in the mid-90s.

“At Highland Park, we get to know the students real well, and they become like family,” she said. “If I’m not going to let my child drop, why would I let another child drop?”

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The graduation success and other efforts to improve school culture almost become self-perpetuating, since that increase in school pride and belonging encourages even more success down the line.

The principal wants that for her students — to consider Highland Park to be as much of a springboard for them into their adulthood as any other school.

“We are a regular high school, like everyone else,” Watson said. “We have goals, and we have dreams — things we want to accomplish. All of my students — they want to be doctors, they want to be artists. They want to be electricians and welders. They have goals they want to accomplish, just like any other child.”

“They’re regular kids, except of course I think mine are a little special,” she continued with a laugh.

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka's Highland Park High School graduation rate soars to 90.4%