Cape's grad rate low for blacks

Cape Girardeau Central High School graduates less than 60 percent of its black students, according to the latest school district report card from the state's education agency.

Of the black freshmen who entered the high school four years earlier, 59.3 percent graduated last spring, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said. The 2006 state average was 75.9 percent.

Cape Girardeau school officials don't know why the graduation rate is so low locally, even though the district has tutoring programs from fifth grade through high school.

"We went up about five percentage points from 2005, but it is still lower than the state average," said Cape Girardeau School District superintendent Dr. David Scala.

He said the district will continue to work to improve the graduation rate.

DESE late last month released its annual "report cards" detailing data from enrollment and graduation rates to test scores and teacher quality.

Scala said the school district's administrators haven't had an opportunity yet to analyze the data. Students returned to classes Wednesday following the Christmas break.

A nationwide study released Thursday also used graduation rates in assessing the state of education in America.

The Editorial Projects in Education Research Center in Bethesda, Md., ranked each state on the basis of 13 indicators from test scores to graduation rates.

Missouri ranked 33rd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Massachusetts was first, Mississippi last.

Central High School graduated 85 percent of its white students, just under the 87.7 percent statewide average, DESE said.

Central's overall graduation rate was 80.9 percent in 2006, compared to the 85.7 percent state average.

Sikeston High School, which also has a significant number of black students, exceeded the state average in all those categories.

Sikeston graduated 60 black students in 2006. Central graduated 32, DESE reported.

But Sikeston superintendent Stephen Borgsmiller said he can't explain why his district fared so much better in terms of graduation rates.

"I don't think you can pinpoint any one specific item," he said. Ultimately, he said, a school district's success depends on the value that residents in a community place on education.

"If parents don't place a value on an education, then that is gong to be hard for the students to place a value on it," he said.

The low graduation rate for black students at Central concerns NaTika Rowles, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Cape Girardeau, an organization that works primarily with minority children.

"The statistic is alarming," she said.

"We need to make sure that every child has an equal education, an equal opportunity within the Cape public school system," she said.

But Rowles, who served on a committee that helped craft the school district's latest strategic plan, gives high marks overall to the district and said it offers quality education for all students.

Graduation rates overall were far higher in the Jackson School District. Jackson High School had an overall graduation rate of 95.7 percent in 2006, well above the state average.

Its white graduation rate was 95.9 percent, and its black graduation rate was 100 percent.

But high school principal Rick McClard cautioned against reading much into the latter statistic. Jackson High School has few black students. Last year, the school graduated two black students.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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