Dayton High School graduates enter the football field for their processional during 2023 commencement.
Photo by Jessica Garcia.
Lyon County School District’s 2022-23 graduation rate increased by 1.84 percentage points to 86.4% from the previous year, according to a report released by the district last month.
During the Board of Trustees’ meeting Nov. 28, James Gianotti, executive director for educational services, said Lyon County had some celebrations to acknowledge despite encountering several challenges getting students to the finish line, including the use of LyOnline, the district’s distance education platform.
“Students who realized they are credit deficient transferred to adult education to obtain their diplomas,” Gianotti said. “Or the fact that LyOnline increased their grad rates from 76% to 90% and assisted students through alternative routes.”
He said the increase was a positive trend, and one key strategy was to keep encouraging administrators and counselors to follow students’ progress to completion. He noted one administrator he had spoken with before the meeting could name nearly all of his students and why they did not graduate this past year.
Gianotti said the board’s decision to employ college and career interventionists helped schools target the most struggling students.
“Counselors are expected to work with students on their four-year academic plans to help students map out their plans,” he said.
Adult education graduation rates by school were 91.93% for Dayton, 87.94% for Fernley, 83.91% for Silver Stage, 100% for Smith Valley and 86.17% for Yerington.
There was an adjustment showing what the rates would be if students who had transferred from high schools to the adult education program had been considered graduates or non-graduates from originating high schools. The Nevada Department of Education factored these graduates as transfers for the individual schools as well as for the district.
Adult education rates to school of origin were calculated as 87.06% for Dayton, 83.5% for Fernley, 81.11% for Silver Stage, 100% for Smith Valley and 83.51% for Yerington.
The state, which released its breakdown of data Dec. 4 of all graduation rates, reported a rate of 81.39% for the class of 2023, down from 81.72% in 2022.
Trustee Darin Farr asked Gianotti how the transient rate might impact Lyon’s schools since administrators and teachers have no control about what happens with students as they move.
Gianotti said it’s not uncommon for students to transfer into Lyon County, potentially as seniors in their second semester, and age out and become credit deficient.
“They may be coming in from California, Idaho or Montana, but then try to recover those credits and it’s just not possible to do that within that short period of time,” Gianotti said. “We help them with LyOnline, as well as with courses where they’re in the seat, and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. So those kids count against us if they’re on our rolls during the course of that school and they’re within that four-year cohort.”
This is why it’s important to stress with administrators the importance of understanding who students are and where they’re at in their academics to collect their stories, he told trustees.
“The (college and career interventionists) work with the bottom 25% at each school,” he said. “They get to understand why they’re failing, why they may be absent, you name it, but they get their fannies in the seat and get them to go through the coursework and hopefully get them to promote or graduate.”