Georgia education officials announced that the state's high school graduation rate hit a record of 79 percent recently, but those students are likely to be less successful finishing public colleges here.

The most recent college-graduation rates for the University System of Georgia shows just 48 percent of entering freshmen complete their bachelor's degree in six years. That's tracking students who entered one of the 35 public colleges as a first-time freshman in 2001 and graduated by 2007, according to figures from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

High school graduation rates have climbed 15 points since 2003, from 63 percent. This year's figure represents a three-point rise. "A three-point jump in our graduation rate means that nearly 4,500 more students graduated with a full diploma this year than did last year," says State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox. "Our high school principals, teachers and students should take a lot of pride in the fact that more students than ever are graduating in Georgia."

While Cox vows to continue improving the high school graduation rates, her department is expecting their efforts to begin paying off in improved rates on the college level. Today's 10-grade students will be the first class to graduate with four years of math and science, a more rigorous curriculum and no choice of a less demanding, general-studies diploma.

Of those 2001 high school graduates who enrolled in public colleges, more than one in four needed remedial classes. "That's the whole idea behind having a rigorous curriculum and a unified set of core graduation requirements, to make sure that everyone who goes to college has the skills they need to be successful," says Cox's spokesman, Dana Tofig.

The Department of Education has also promoted an increase in the number of teachers qualified for International Baccalaureate and college-level, advanced-placement courses where high schoolers who score well enough can earn college credit. Peach State high schoolers today take AP classes at greater than the national average, and they pass them more often than the national average.

Students who take AP classes generally perform better in college, even if they score well enough on the AP exam to earn college credit, according to the Southern Regional Education Board.

As high schoolers become better prepared for college, the colleges are the job they do of keeping them on track for graduation.

But one dramatic change in college graduation rates - and the rates in which students stayed enrolled - came when the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents began turning away more of the unprepared applicants. When it phased in tougher admissions standard from 1996-2002, retention rates system wide jumped from 74 percent to 81 by 2003.

The Regents set a target for graduation rates of 49 percent system wide, for the freshmen that enrolled in 2002 to have completed bachelor's degrees within six years, the standard for comparison nationally. Rates at research universities like Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia should reach 68 percent. State universities such as Armstrong Atlantic, Augusta State and Savannah State would aim for 34 percent.

All of the states surrounding, except Alabama, have higher rates than Georgia, and the national rate is 56 percent.

Repeatedly over the years, the Regents have created task forces to address graduation rates, most recently in 2004 and 2006. The board is operating on the recommendations of the latest committee's report, presented in 2007.

"Clearly, the University System of Georgia is committed to enhancing (retention and graduation rates), but is challenged by the diversity of system institutions," the task force wrote then. "USG institutions differ widely in size, mission, resources, history, and student characteristics. The academic preparation, maturity, economic background, goals, and family support of students also vary dramatically. The complexity of this challenge, however, does not relieve individual institutions of their responsibility to effect improvements."

Nevertheless, the authors recommended four goals, which the Regents accepted. Every school had to create a "first year experience program" to draw freshmen into campus life. The schools also had to work harder at making sure seniors didn't drop out simply because the courses they needed weren't available.

Plus, each college had to create a student employment office to address the No. 1 reason dropouts gave for leaving, namely needing money. And finally, all the colleges had to draft their own action plans.

Graduation rates have been rising about 1 point per year. The flood of students opting for college instead of the work force during the recession may present a challenge since those added students might take jobs when they become more plentiful.

October 6, 2009