The state graduation rate rose in the 2021-22 school year. Here’s how local schools fared

Michigan’s statewide high school graduation rate rose for the 2021-22 school year after taking a dip last year. Despite more students graduating, the state’s dropout rate rose last year as well.

The Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI) released 2021-22 school year graduation data Friday, Feb. 24. Data is available at MiSchoolData.org.

It showed Michigan’s four-year graduation rate was 81.01 percent last year, up from 80.47 percent for the 2020-21 school year. The 0.54 percent increase brings the state near the 81.41 percent seen in the final year before the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, 2018-19.

The state’s four-year dropout rate increased last year, as well. In 2021-22, the dropout rate was 8.19 percent, up from 7.65 percent in 2020-21.

“Improving graduation rates, a return to pre-COVID rates in many cases, are positive signs that our schools are beginning to emerge from the adverse impacts of the pandemic,” said State Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice. “While we continue to have a great deal of work to do in this area, particularly with respect to gaps among different groups, rising graduation rates are welcome and a testament to the hard work of students and staff.”

Although the state’s rate went up last year, many Holland-area schools saw a decline from their 2020-21 rates.

Saugatuck High School had the highest four-year graduation rate in the area last year at 96.05 percent, an increase from 94.83 percent in 2020-21. Saugatuck’s dropout rate last year was 2.63 percent, down from 5.17 percent the previous year.

The school had 73 of 76 members of the 2022 class graduate, with two dropouts, according to CEPI data.

Zeeland had the next highest four-year rate and also saw a slight increase. The district had a graduation rate of 93.79 percent, up slightly from 93.22 percent the previous year. Despite the graduation rate bump, the dropout rate increased as well, from 3.28 percent to 4.21 percent.

Zeeland had 468 of 499 students graduate in 2022 with 21 dropouts.

West Ottawa had little change from 2020-21 to 2021-22, dropping .06 percent. The district’s 89.39 percent graduation rate was reflective of 531 of 594 students graduating. West Ottawa had 27 dropouts, 4.55 percent of the class. This is down from 5.27 percent in 2020-21.

Black River’s four-year graduation rate dropped nearly 10 percent. The school had a 97.01 rate in 2020-21, but that fell to 87.72 in the 2021-22 data. The school’s dropout rate rose from 1.49 percent to 5.26 percent.

Black River saw 50 of 57 students in the class of 2022 graduate with three dropouts, according to CEPI data.

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At Hamilton, the four-year graduation rate fell around 4 percent from 89.33 to 85.50. The dropout rate rose from 5.33 percent to 6.0 percent. Out of the 200 students in Hamilton’s 2022 class, 171 graduated on time and there were 12 dropouts.

A decrease of over 6 percent brought Holland High School below state average for 2021-22. Holland’s for-year rate went from 83.80 percent in 2021-22 to 76.17 percent last year. The dropout rate rose from 9.51 percent to 12.42. Among 298 students in the class of 2022, 227 graduated and there were 37 dropouts.

Fennville had the largest year-to-year decline among area schools. The district went from an 83.51 percent graduation rate in 2020-21 to a 73.23 percent rate last year. The dropout rate rose from 6.19 percent to 10.24 percent.

Fennville had 93 graduates and 13 dropouts among 127 students in the 2022 class.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Several Holland-area graduation rates drop, despite statewide increase