Gaps in Henrico Schools' graduation rates persist for Hispanic students, English learners

Henrico County Public Schools’ graduation rate dropped slightly this year, as Virginia’s overall graduation rate saw a slight increase. The largest disparities in graduation rates for Henrico students are again among Hispanic students and English learners — larger than the gaps for those same subgroups of students at the state level.

Overall, 90.2% of this year’s cohort (students who began high school in fall 2017) in Henrico graduated on-time, compared to 2020’s rate of 90.9%. Since 2018, the graduation rate in Henrico has declined by 2.1 percentage points, after increasing steadily from 2012’s 88% rate. Statewide, 93% of students graduated on time, up from last year’s rate of 92.5%.

The graduation rate for Henrico’s Hispanic students was 72% this year, an 18.2 percentage point gap from the overall HCPS class of 2021’s graduation rate. Despite the large gap, it actually decreased this year from 2020 by one percentage point.

“Most groups are represented equitably within the on-time graduation data,” said Tiffany Hinton, HCPS’ director of assessment, research and evaluation at a Henrico School Board meeting on Thursday. “However, we continue to see additional support is needed Hispanic and English learner students as they strive to meet graduation requirements.”

The Virginia on-time graduation rate defines graduates as students who earn Advanced Studies, Standard, IB, or Applied Studies Diplomas for students who entered the ninth-grade for the first time together and were scheduled to graduate four years later. The state's formula also recognizes that some students with disabilities and limited English proficient (EL) students are allowed more than the standard four years to earn a diploma and counts those students as 'on-time' graduates.

The number of Hispanic students in HCPS continues to grow each year, with 5,547 Hispanic students enrolled last fall. In fall 2017, when this year's graduating class began high school, there were 4,980 Hispanic students enrolled in HCPS, according to state data.

Statewide, English learners have fared better each year for the past three years, rising from a 71% graduation rate in 2019 to a 77.2% graduation rate in 2021. But in Henrico, outcomes have gotten worse, decreasing from 65% in 2019 to 62.7% in both 2020 and 2021.

“Looking at the numbers, some of it is what I expected to be quite honest,” said board member Alicia Atkins, who represents the Varina District.

Graduation outcomes for English learners are more difficult to analyze because the data that school divisions report to the state doesn’t offer much context. English learners’ educational backgrounds can vary widely if they immigrated from another country. Starting this year, data collected by the state should offer more context because it will include whether or not a student has limited or interrupted formal education.

The English learner population in Henrico has grown consistently over the past decade, with the exception of a drop-off last year, when overall enrollment also dropped. From 2011 to 2019,  EL enrollment increased from 3,168 students to 5,360 students. Last fall, 5,199 EL students were enrolled in HCPS, according to state data.

In an effort to ensure that English learner families were knowledgeable of the graduation requirements, J. R. Tucker High School (which has the largest population of EL students in the county this year) held informational sessions in various languages for families with a school counselor, administrator and an interpreter. As an extension of that program, Tucker officials are creating a parent advisory committee for EL families this year, Principal Art Raymond said at Thursday’s school board meeting. Each department in the school has a representative for its newly created equity team as well, “to increase building-wide community ownership of our efforts,” Raymond said.

For Black students in HCPS, graduation rates decreased from 2020 to 2021 at the same rate as the overall HCPS population, so Black students were underrepresented at unchanged rate. This year’s graduation rate for Black students was 88.3%, compared to the overall graduation rate of 90.2%.

In Henrico, economically disadvantaged students fared worse than last year with an 84.3% graduation rate, while the state's overall graduation rate of 89.2% remained the same for economically disadvantaged students.

To identify groups that are under- or over-represented in graduation rates, HCPS uses an “equity index.” Groups that are overrepresented in graduation rates form a disproportionately large percentage of on-time graduates, while groups that are defined as underrepresented form a disproportionately small percentage of on-time graduates.

The results are calculated by taking the percentage of students achieving the outcome and dividing it by the percentage of students in a specific subgroup achieving that same outcome.

Using the 2018-2019 school year as a baseline, the equity index found that Asian students and students of multiple races are increasingly overrepresented. White students are overly represented, but at a declining rate.

Groups that are underrepresented but moving higher up are economically disadvantaged students and Hispanic students. Black students and economically disadvantaged students are underrepresented at the same rate as the 2019 baseline. Groups that are increasingly underrepresented are students with disabilities and English learners.

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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar.