Although many high schools in York County saw their graduation rates rise significantly from 2009-10, school officials say there’s still room for improvement in keeping students from dropping out.

“I think the best thing that can be done is to have early intervention for students,” said Pete Dawson, principal of Kennebunk High School. Dawson said teachers and school administrators will increase the chances of a student graduating high school if they take notice of learning difficulties in children at a young age.

KHS saw its graduation rates decrease during 2009-10, from 92.09 percent to 90.61 percent. The school’s dropout rate increased that same year, from 0.37 percent to 1.25 percent.

Dawson attributes this to a new formula by the Maine Department of Education that was enacted in 2008.

“It’s solid, and given the new methodology for figuring, it’s respectable, but we want to be better than that,” said Dawson about the school’s rates.

Biddeford High School saw an increase in its graduation rate, from 76.25 percent to 81.08 percent in the 2009-10 year. The dropout rate also decreased, from 5.13 percent to 3.14 percent that same year.

“I think we are on the right track with dropout prevention,” said Britton Wolfe, principal of BHS.

Wolfe said the implementation of a dropout prevention committee, made up of teachers, staff and administrators, as well as the Alternative Passways program, have greatly helped in combating the issue of students quitting school.

Alternative Passways allows students who are having trouble with studying multiple topics at once to concentrate on one class for a three-week period, before moving on to the next subject.

The program also gives students the option of learning trades so they’ll have a greater chance of finding employment after graduation.

“The advisory program keeps kids from falling through the cracks,” said Wolfe.

The MDOE reported this month that the state overall has seen improvements in numbers, having 88 schools show an increase in their graduation rates, but also reported almost half of all schools in the state have a graduation rate lower than 83 percent ”“ the rate required to show adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Massabesic High School, which saw a increase in students graduating from 72.97 percent to 77.89 percent, will be employing a new program that will allow students more time to recover credits if they’re falling behind.

Some high schools are looking for inventive ways to push students in the direction of graduating.

It was announced at the Regional School Unit 57’s budget meeting that the district’s $35.5 million budget will include $12,500 in funding for MHS’ credit recovery program and PLATO computer program that allows students to complete courses online.

“Since courses will only need two out of three trimesters, a student can be placed in a credit-recovery course immediately after they fail a half-credit core class,” said MHS Principal Christian Elkington, when the program was instituted last year.

Superintendent Frank Sherburne said at the district budget meeting Tuesday that the two programs are “working very well.”

Many factors contribute to student truancy, including problems at home, motivational and behavioral issues, and lack of reading and math skills, said Dawson. He added that often once a student realizes they’re behind in credits, they lose motivation to try to catch up.

“Nobody wants to hang around if they’re falling short,” said Dawson.

Wolfe said that schools can estimate the likelihood of a student dropping out by examining their transcripts and seeing their grades and number of credits.

The MDOE has a database that keeps track of where students move to so that they won’t be enrolled at two schools at once. Before 2002, students could be enrolled at multiple schools at once without administrators knowing where they were coming from, which would count the student as a dropout at previous schools, hurting the school’s rates.

“We need to identify students who are struggling, and provide support with their skills once we do that,” said Dawson.

— Staff Writer Matt Kiernan can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 326, or at mkiernan@journaltribune.com.