The Class of 2020 had 175 students in it, but according to the Indiana Department of Education, only 144 of them graduated.

The 2020 graduation rate for Brown County High School was 82.29 percent — about 14 percentage points lower than it was in 2019.

In 2019, the graduation rate was 96.53 percent for BCHS.

In 2020, when the school year was cut short because of COVID-19, the State Board of Education waived the graduation qualifying exam requirement. In theory, that could have helped some students graduate. But other factors were also at play.

Why the drop?

Principal Matt Stark said there are multiple reasons why the graduation rate decreased last school year. He discussed it with the Brown County Schools Board of Trustees on Feb. 18.

The IDOE conducted an audit on the 2020 cohort, or group of students.

A student enters a cohort their freshman year wherever they attend school. If they transfer to another school, they will be counted in that cohort once they register there.

BCHS also can pick up new students in the cohort as students transfer in.

One reason that students are shown as not graduating is if they withdrew to home-school when they were not on track to graduate. Those students are considered dropouts.

There were 20 students who withdrew to home-school and were not on track to graduate with the class of 2020. Some of those could have been students who withdrew early in their high school careers.

However, not all students who withdraw to home-school are counted as dropouts. “If a student is on track to graduate and withdraws to home-school, then we count them as a homeschool. They do not count against the graduation rate. Just because they go to homeschool they do not count against us,” Stark said.

“This is where our graduation rate took a dip in the audit, because the state said if a student left our school district and went to homeschool and was not on track credit-wise to graduate, they count as a dropout for the high school. … That was our big learn during this audit.”

If a student withdraws to home-school and gets their high school equivalency (HSE, which used to be called the GRE), that also counts against the graduation rate.

Stark said that BCHS was not previously aware that students who are not on track to graduate and withdraw to home-school or withdraw to home-school and get the HSE count against the graduation rate. Those rules apply statewide.

“Not all of it, but a big chunk are homeschool students who are not on track when they withdrew to homeschool,” Stark said of the dip.

“It would be easy to blame COVID and just come on this and say, ‘Well, COVID has created this.’ That is not accurate either. … We learned a lot through this audit.”

The graduation report is created by the end of September following graduation, since there are some seniors who go to summer school to earn credits so they can graduate with their class. Then, the state looks at the report and sometimes, the decision is made to audit it.

Stark said that the number of homeschool students showing for Brown County High School was one of the triggers for the audit. The IDOE tries to audit all high schools in Indiana, he said.

Some of the students in the 2020 cohort may have transferred to another school, but if the student never registered at their new school, they would still be counted as part of the 2020 graduating class for BCHS, and they would be considered dropouts.

Even before the pandemic hit last March, Stark said the 2020 class had students who withdrew during their senior year.

“It was just too much. If they weren’t on track to graduate at that point, when they withdrew for homeschool, that counted that way,” he said.

Stark said there are less than five students this school year who have withdrawn to get their high school equivalency because of COVID-19 specifically and not wanting to attend school in-person due to health concerns.

“Remote learning is not working for them. They (parents) are struggling with their kid and they are looking for something to grasp onto,” Stark said.

If that’s the situation, the family goes through an exit interview with the school, he said.

Stark said of the 31 students who did not graduate, two had turned 18 and decided to withdraw on their own their senior year. “They had enough and stopped coming. They turned 18. They said, ‘I’m done, I’m out,’” Stark said.

Everyone in the school building, from the custodians to teachers to administration to counselors, tried to intervene. “Everyone who knows this kid, we’re working in every way we can to try to keep that kid in,” Stark said.

Sometimes, a student stops showing up to school and school officials cannot locate the family. School resource officer Greg Duke has gone to homes to find students and discovered that the family moved or was evicted.

“But we still don’t necessarily know where they go. If we can’t show they went somewhere (to another school), then that also stays with us,” Stark said.

Some students receive certificates of completion instead of diplomas, because they completed the high school’s life skills program and were on individualized education plans (IEPs). Certificates of completion are not counted in the graduation rate. The 31 students who did not graduate do not include the two students who received those certificates.

“A very small percentage of students with a special education background who are put on a certificate track, we get an exception to that, but if we’re over that percentage, then that also counts against graduation rate,” Stark said.

Students who need more than four years in high school to graduate or students who obtain their HSE are not counted as graduates either.

Hitting 100

Graduate rates are one of the factors the state uses to evaluate high schools.

“It penalizes us and hurts us a school when the graduation rate declines,” Stark said.

The high school tries to reach students who are at risk of not graduating to help them walk across that stage, Stark told the school board.

The high school has a credit recovery program that helps kids get credits they need to graduate.

“Ultimately it comes down to if they want to engage,” he said.

“If they engage, we can save them. They have to be a part of that solution as well.”

Stark said the most frustrating part of getting students across the graduation stage is when school officials call home and talk to parents who do not know what to do. “I offer lots of different options. It’s not just in senior year. This is all the way through school that we’re trying to get that,” Stark said.

“As parents engage and students engage, we do a lot of things, but unfortunately, we have some that are deciding not to be a part of high school.”

Stark said graduation is a top priority for BCHS, but not because of the state statistics.

“A high school diploma will be critically important to what their life looks at 25, 30 and 35, and their job prospects and their ability to do things,” he said.

Sometimes tough conversations have to be had with students who are struggling to earn the credits they need. “I will tell you the HSE (high school equivalency) might be his or her best option at that point to do that,” Stark said.

Even though that hurts the school’s graduation rate, he said those conversations are based on the individual student’s situation. “If they’re willing to participate and dig in we will find a way,” Stark said.

“The ones who are most frustrating are the ones who just don’t. I know that doesn’t (only) happen in senior year. I know that happens at various times.”

“I won’t sit still or be satisfied at all until we hit 100 percent,” he added. “We need every kid to graduate high school. That’s the goal. When you write goals, you’re supposed to be realistic, I think that’s realistic that every kid graduates.”