Class of 2022 graduates of Franklin County school districts attended two-year colleges at a much higher rate than others across the state, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
At the end of 2022, DESE released report cards for individual districts throughout the state with data on graduation and dropout rates and data showing what area graduates chose 180 days after the 2021-2022 school year. The report cards also included data on test scores that will be included in a forthcoming Missourian article.
Meramec Valley R-III Superintendent Dr. Carrie Schwierjohn called the data “a look in the rearview mirror” but she and other superintendents from the Washington, St. Clair R-XIII and New Haven school districts said they use the data to examine how schools operate and the services they offer.
St. Clair had 39.3 percent of graduates respond that they were in an associate program. Though there weren’t enough St. Clair graduates to go to technical school for DESE to list the district’s data, Kruse said the two-year-degree figure “tells him that our building trades program is a pretty applicable thing to have.” St. Clair High School added the program in the fall of 2022.
Nearly 15 percent of St. Clair grads went to a four-year college. Washington High School sent 29.9 percent of its 2022 alumni to earn an associate degree and 28.6 percent enrolled at a four-year institution.
Many Pacific High School graduates went to college too, with 23.7 percent going to a two-year and 20.2 percent enrolling at a four-year university.
New Haven sent the highest percentage of students to college in The Missourian’s coverage area, 39.5 percent went to a two-year and 27.9 percent attended a four-year college.
In Washington, a further 29.6 percent of respondents said that they were employed full time 180 days after graduating and 1.9 percent said they were in the military. Pacific sent 34.3 of its graduates into the workforce and 2.5 percent went to a technical institution.
Six percent of St. Clair High School graduates responded that they had entered the military, while 27.9 percent are employed. New Haven had 16.3 percent of graduates enter the workforce.
Statewide, 34 percent of graduates go to a four-year school and 23.9 percent go to a two-year college. The military is a route chosen by 2.3 percent of students statewide and 2.5 percent go to technical schools after high school.
The figure for technical schools is not available for Washington, St. Clair and New Haven because of low participation. The same is true for Pacific and New Haven students who went into the military.
It makes sense that Franklin County students, especially those who live closer to St. Louis, seek more education after leaving college — it’s readily accessible. Within 60 miles of Washington there are 21 four-year colleges and seven two-year colleges, including seminaries and for-profit institutions, according to the U.S. Department of Education. There are also 14 technical or career colleges, including cosmetology, masseuse and health schools, within the same distance.
Washington had 292 graduates in the class of 2022. Its four-year graduation rate — the percentage of students who graduated on time — was 92.4 percent, near 2020-21’s total of 93 percent, and higher than the state average of 89.7 percent. St. Clair led the readership area in graduation rate — 94 percent with 141 students — but the figure was a 1.3 percent drop from 2021. Meramec Valley graduated 205 seniors in 2022 at a rate of 91.1 percent. In 2022, 35 students graduated from New Haven High School, the district had a graduation rate of 88.7 percent, less than last year’s mark of 93.3 percent.
Superintendent Dr. Kyle Kruse said district administrators were “happy to see” both the graduation rate and dropout rate at St. Clair are better than the state average.
St. Clair’s dropout rate was 1.7 percent, compared to the state average of 1.9 percent. Last year the district posted a dropout rate of just 1.2 percent. The most recent rate for Washington students was close: 1.8 percent, on par with the year prior, when it was 1.7 percent. Meramec Valley posted a dropout rate of 1.5 percent and New Haven’s was 0.6 percent.
Data for the Union R-XI School District was previously covered in print and is available online at emissourian.com.
