By Isabelle Abadie and Rory O’Connor
Riverside has the lowest graduation rate of any comprehensive high school in Durham Public Schools.
Since the 2015-2016 school year, Riverside’s rate has consistently been 5 to 10% lower than the district’s average, and the gap widened even more during the pandemic.
Riverside’s 2023 graduation rate was 79.6%. The state average was 86.5%.
Graduation rate is one of many factors that states use to measure a school’s quality. Every year, every public school in North Carolina gets a grade determined by a combination of factors, including graduation rate, test scores, teacher qualifications and state-mandated course performance.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction measures a school’s four-year cohort graduation rate by determining the percentage of students who graduate in four years or less after first enrolling in ninth grade. This data point does not count the number of students who drop out, only students who finish high school in four years.
The most recent data available on the district’s website shows progress. Riverside’s 2023 graduation rate increased 5% from the 2022.
Source: NC Dept. of Public Instruction
Source: NC Dept. of Public Instruction
Additionally, many of Riverside’s other performance indicators meet or exceed district and state averages. For example, in 2022-23 50.2% of Math 3 students passed the state’s end-of-course (EOC) exam, which was above the district’s 48.2% average but below the state’s average of 58%. And 53.8% of Riverside students passed the Biology EOC, again beating the district’s 47.6% average and practically tying the state’s (54.1%).
Why, then, aren’t Pirates graduating at the same rate as students at other schools?
The Pirates’ Hook asked that question to dozens of school and district leaders and got a wide array of responses but no clear answers. Riverside faculty said it was poorly-used RPC systems and inconsistent transcripts. Other DPS high school faculty said it was because RHS doesn’t set up ninth graders for success. DPS assistant superintendent Dan Davis even said it was a general lack of hope.
Soon after taking over as Riverside’s principal in 2021, Gloria Woods-Weeks noticed several issues that could be fixed quickly to help students graduate.
Source: NC School Report Card
“We needed to start tracking our seniors [and] figure out where they were,” she said.
Shortly after arriving at Riverside Woods-Weeks found several “transcript mistakes,” such as many juniors and seniors being placed into classes they had already taken in previous years. This left students with only a few semesters to earn lots of credits in order to reach reach the 26 credits they need to graduate.
“I can’t let a guy with 19 credits [just] walk away from graduation and a diploma,” she said.
Woods-Weeks also said Riverside shouldn’t just be tunnel-focused on its juniors and seniors.
“When you fail to achieve the credits you need in your ninth grade year, it makes you lose interest in high school,” she said.
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) considers ninth grade the “make or break year” for completing high school.
“During the ninth-grade year, many students for the first time have to earn passing grades in core courses,” researchers Kyle McCallumore and Ervin Sparapani wrote in a DOE journal article titled “The Importance of the Ninth Grade on High School Graduation Rates and Student Success.” “Core courses are typically some of the toughest and most rigorous academic classes a student must take in high school.”
Woods-Weeks said the Riverside administrative team is working to put additional systems in place to support ninth-graders’ transition from middle to high school, like a summer bridge program that pairs incoming students with teachers who best suit their personality and also allows students to get comfortable with Riverside and high school in general before 1500 other students are added into the mix.
“There should be one adult in this building that every kid [feels safe enough to] go to and tell them what’s going on with them,” she said.
