News File Photo Alpena High School students wait to receive their diplomas in this 2018 photo.

ALPENA — The majority of schools in Northeast Michigan saw more students graduate on time last spring compared to the year before, though the graduation rate in Alpena Public Schools dipped slightly.

APS — whose data includes rates for both Alpena High School and the district’s alternative school, Alternative Choices for Educational Success Academy — saw a little more than 75 percent of its students graduate during the 2017-18 academic year, falling short of the statewide rate of about 81 percent. The district also saw its dropout rate increase by one student last year to 27 dropouts during the 2017-18 academic year.

The graduation rate at Alpena High alone was higher than the statewide rate, at 84.84 percent, though that figure is down from more than 92 percent the year before. The four-year graduation rate at ACES is 39.47 percent, bringing down the districtwide graduation rate. APS Superintendent John VanWagoner said ACES is designed to be a five-year program.

VanWagoner said extenuating circumstances affect the district’s rate.

APS has more students who are graduating after four years, but it’s out of a larger pool of potential graduates, bringing down the overall rate. He said some of the district’s students participate in the early college program, through which they earn their diploma and a college degree — in five years. That lowers the district’s four-year rate.

“Our goal is always going to be to graduate 100 percent of our kids to be career and college ready,” VanWagoner said. “That’s always going to be our goal.”

While the district does have students who drop out, for various reasons, the district is using Northeast Michigan Community Service Agency’s school success program to identify at-risk students. The district’s counselors and NEMCSA’s school success workers are then working with those kids to help them graduate.

Onaway and Posen also saw their rates dip slightly. In Onaway, the rate fell to 96.08 percent from 97.73 percent in the 2016-17. In Posen, the rate fell to 86.36 percent from 95.83 percent.

However, students graduated from public high schools in Alcona, Atlanta, Hillman and Rogers City at rates higher than their peers statewide and saw their graduation rates increase. Hillman saw the most significant bump, rising to 91.43 percent from 68.97 percent.

The data for Northeast Michigan, released Thursday by the Michigan Department of Education, is on-par with a statewide trend that saw more students in Michigan graduating on time. Graduation rates across the state increased by 0.46 percentage points during the 2017-18 academic year to 80.64 percent, according to a news release.

However, the state also saw the dropout rate increase by 0.08 percent to 8.73 percent during the same period of time.

New demographic subgroups for foster care, military-connected and early middle college students were added to the state reports this year, which are available to the public at mischooldata.org. Graduation rates can also be broken down by gender, race or ethnicity, or by demographic categories such as economically disadvantaged, English language learners, homeless, migrant and students with disabilities.

“Adding these new demographic subgroups provides the ability to review and better understand how all Michigan students are progressing through their education,” Tom Howell, the executive director for the state’s Center for Educational Performance and Information, said in the press release. “Having this additional context to our graduation and dropout rates will help us evaluate and better work toward equity for our children.”

More data results can be found online at www.mischooldata.org.

Crystal Nelson can be reached at cnelson@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5687.

Graduation rates

A look at the four-year graduation and dropout rates for school districts in Northeast Michigan.

District Grad rate Dropout rate

Alpena 75.06% 7.5%

Alcona 94.64% N/A *

Atlanta 94.74% 5.26%

Hillman 91.43% 2.86%

Rogers City 95.2% 95.12%

Posen 86.36% 9.09%

Onaway 96.08% 1.96%

*NOTE: The state did not record Alcona’s dropout rate because it was fewer than 10 students.

Source: Michigan Department of Education