National Study Lauds Loudoun's Graduation Rate | LoudounExtra.com

Loudoun County's high school graduation rate remains one of the highest in the Washington region and shows that the school system is outperforming others across the country with similar characteristics, according to a new study.

The national study, released Tuesday by researchers affiliated with the trade publication Education Week, looked at data from 1996 to 2006, the latest available federal figures, to calculate the percentage of students who graduate from high school within four years of starting ninth grade.

Loudoun's 2006 rate was 89.3 percent, down from 92.9 percent the previous year but still one of the highest in the Washington region. The tiny Falls Church school system's 2006 rate was 91.3 percent, and Fairfax County's rate was 78.8 percent. Virginia's average was 69.2 percent, as was the nation's.

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The study also analyzed demographic and other information to compare Loudoun with similar school systems across the country. By the study's measure, Loudoun was outperforming peers by a significant margin.

The study is one of the most comprehensive available on national graduation trends. Individual states calculate their rates through a patchwork of formulas, making comparisons among them all but impossible. Last year, the Bush administration's Education Department ordered states to use a standard formula by 2013. That formula requires tracking individual students, in contrast to the method used by the Education Week affiliate, the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, which relies on analysis of overall student populations by grade level.

Virginia started using the federally endorsed method last year, and it yielded higher graduation rates than those in the new study. Loudoun's 2008 graduation rate was 93.6 percent, according to state numbers, and the Virginia average was 82.1 percent.

A spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education, Charles Pyle, called the Education Week study's methodology "flawed," saying it undercounts graduation rates, though he said the state is continuing to work to improve its graduation figures.

Last year, some independent experts criticized a previous Education Week-affiliated study for reasons similar to Pyle's.