LAKES REGION – In 2012, graduation rates for the three school districts in the Lakes Region exceeded the state average of 85.34 percent, according to data released by the Maine Department of Education on Monday.

Lake Region led the area with a 90.97 percent rate. Windham-Raymond followed with an 89.93 percent rate, and Bonny Eagle had an 86.42 percent rate.

The graduation rates were tabulated according to the four-year cohort, which measured how many students who entered ninth grade in fall 2009 managed to complete high school within four years and graduate in the class of 2012. Those who dropped out or stayed back a year or two lowered a school’s graduation rate.

Each of the Lakes Region’s school districts, except for Windham-Raymond, improved compared with the previous year. Windham-Raymond had a graduation rate of 92.34 percent in 2011. Bonny Eagle had an 82.22 percent rate that year, while Lake Region had a 79.12 percent rate.

Concerning the three school district’s dropout rates, which track how many students drop out anytime between ninth grade and graduation, Windham-Raymond led area schools with a 1.63 percent rate. Bonny Eagle followed with a 2.61 percent rate. Lake Region had a 3.87 percent rate.

The numbers are important, the districts’ superintendents say, and prove retention strategies are working.

Lake Region’s improvement of 12 percentage points in one year can be attributed to several new programs that were adopted and paid for with federal money after Lake Region was listed as one of Maine’s top 10 lowest performing school districts in 2010, school officials say.

Superintendent Kathleen Beecher said the district has put added emphasis on professional development for teachers. It has also established a student advocate position that speaks for students when their needs aren’t being met for one reason or another, usually scheduling, Beecher said.

An afterschool program named Food for Thought was also established that provided 90 minutes of tutoring in core curriculum classes followed by dinner for participants. The program was staffed by teachers of social studies, math, science and English, who provided extra help for students needing to improve their grades.

A new summer school was added in 2012 targeting those students who were far behind in their schoolwork. That program, Beecher said, proved especially fruitful since 100 percent of 2012’s seniors graduated. High School Principal Ted Finn and Lake Region Vocational Center Director Rosie Schacht managed the summer program.

“In the past, we haven’t had a summer school for kids who were quite a bit off from the average they needed, so Ted and Rosie put together a separate summer school that really targeted those kids and try to get our graduation rate up,” Beecher said.

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Superintendent Sandy Prince attributed Windham-Raymond’s dropout rate of 1.63 percent and 89.93 percent graduation rate to several factors.

“There’s no single magic bullet. We really try to work hard to develop a plan for students who are not succeeding,” he said. “And my motto is, ‘whatever it takes.’ We’ll do what we can to keep them in school.”

Prince said graduation rates are not only affected by what might happen to a student in high school, but that good habits start in primary school, where administrators and teachers try to target problems early.

“We have a K-12 perspective,” Prince said. “We know if students develop bad habits early on that that’s going to impact their learning and it becomes a learned behavior of theirs.”

Attendance is a major issue early in a student’s career, Prince said.

“We track our data on school attendance and I meet with parents whose students are not coming to school on a regular basis,” Prince said. “We set up a plan and we work with those parents and students to help turn that around. That happens from primary to high school.”

Those who get into difficulty in high school have numerous options. For those who can’t manage the traditional track, the district will try to convince the student to attend The REAL School, an alternative education school based on Mackworth Island that is funded by Windham-Raymond, before dropping out.

“It’s huge. It’s a great option for kids,” Prince said. “I can tell you so many stories about telling students, ‘You’ve just got to try this program before you consider dropping out.’”

Prince said those children who are expelled or suspended can fall behind quickly and are encouraged to participate in a restorative learning program that is run at the high school, separate from the student population.

“The idea is not to let them get behind in their studies, even though they had to get expelled or suspended or whatever,” Prince said. “Sometimes students just need to back off from all the stresses that they’re faced with in school and get them in a program where they can focus on getting caught up with their studies and back on track.”

If the alternative education efforts don’t prove enough, Prince said, those who are thinking of dropping out are met with stiff resistance from administrators and staff, such as the assistant high school principal, Kelli Deveaux, the school resource officer, Jeff Smith, and Prince on what life could be like for high school dropouts.

“It’s not acceptable for us to sign the paper for you to leave this district. What’s it going to get you to stay here. And we really believe that,” Prince described of these pivotal last-ditch discussions with students. “So we will try to get them to look ahead, not only to graduation, but what they are going to do after high school.”

Bonny Eagle

According to School Administrative District 6 Superintendent Frank Sherburne, Bonny Eagle’s graduation rate of 86.42 percent has overall remained steady since 2006, when it was 86.3 percent.

“We’ve seen a relative increase in the last few years, but over seven years, it’s flat,” he said. “It’s discouraging, absolutely. We can’t accept losing 14 percent of our students, no matter how you cut it.”

Sherburne said not all dropouts are the same. Some are gifted students who drop out because school isn’t challenging enough.

“Having been a special education director for so long, we lost as many students to disenfranchisement in our educational system who were within the gifted and talented program as other students who had other challenges along the way in school. So when we talk about a high school dropout, there isn’t a stereotype profile. It really runs the spectrum,” Sherburne said.

“People have in their minds what a high school dropout is, and they need to let go of that,” he continued. “They need to suspend that belief because it’s not true. We lose kids across the intellectual spectrum. So we have to reflect on not only the number, but why. Why are we losing 14 percent of our kids. That should never be OK because there’s an actual human being who we know is going to have significantly greater challenges in life without having a high school diploma.”