Graduation rate at Omaha Public Schools lower than it was 5 years ago

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Omaha Public Schools board members and the public on Monday heard a graduation rate presentation for the 2022-2023 academic year.

The report, some board members said, was disappointing.

“I know that every employee of OPS is not happy with those numbers,” said board member Jane Erdenberger.

OPS’ district-wide graduation rate for 2023 was 70.4 percent. That rate decreased 6.3 percentage points over the last five years, from 76.7 percent.

The most recent national data for public school graduation rates is the 2021-2022 academic year. It was 87 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

“Graduation is everybody’s language,” said one title on the slideshow of Monday night’s report.

In Omaha, the high school with the best graduation rate was Burke, at 85.3 percent.

The worst, South High, was at more than 20 percentage points below that: 63.5 percent.

Factors to explain the differences between high schools were not explored during the meeting, but here’s some context.

According to the report, students whose first language is not English, also known as English learners, have significantly lower gradution rates than their counterparts. In 2023, the graduation rate for English leaners was 35.3 percent.

South High School, which had to worst graduation rate, also has the largest proportion of English learners in their student body among OPS high schools.

Burke, on the other hand, the school with the highest graduation rate, has the second lowest proportion of English learners.

But there’s more to it. The report also highlighted disparities among students who qualify for free or reduced lunch and disparities by race.

“So what are we doing about this?” asked Susanne Cramer, the district’s chief improvement officer.

The district said they’re working to implement real-time approaches to identify when a student is falling off track and why.

“The data shows we have work to do, and we’re doing it,” said Cramer.

Their approach is supported by a dashboard that collects student-specific data and relationships developed with the students.

“We have the need and the opportunity to maintain our high expectations throughout the Omaha Public Schools,” said superintendent Matthew Ray. “We have to do better.”

Ray apologized for the delay in this report. He hopes to have the most recent academic year’s numbers in front of the board by January.

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