Avoyelles School District graduation rate nears national average

For the second year in a row, the Avoyelles Parish School District has a higher high school graduation rate than the state average, district officials announced by Facebook post this past week.

In addition to that, the district’s graduation rate of 84.5 is just 0.l below the national average.

The post came in the middle of a week of graduation ceremonies for APSD’s four high schools as well as Avoyelles Public Charter, St. Joseph Catholic and Nazarene Christian Academy.

“Once again, this is yet another statistic that shows we are making huge strides -- and are educating our students just as well as anyone,” APSD Superintendent Blaine Dauzat said. “Numbers don’t lie.”

Avoyelles’ graduation rate for its four high schools is the district’s highest ever. The state also had its highest graduation rate ever at 81.4 percent.

The graduation rate reflects the percent of 9th graders who graduated four years later.

Last year APSD had a 79.3 graduation rate and the state had a 79.2 rate.

In addition to widening the lead over the state average, the local public schools almost reached the state average of 81.5 percent.

“Stop believing the negative folks,” the unsigned APSD Facebook post noted. “The narrative that we are ‘failing’ or that there are better options is just wrong.

“We're not perfect and we still struggle in some areas,” the post continued, “but isn't the ultimate goal of a school or school system to graduate its students so that they have the best possible opportunity to be productive members of society?”

The Facebook post pointed out the district’s graduation rate was 65th out of 70 public school districts four years ago. It is 42nd this year. Avoyelles has the sixth highest graduation rate improvement in the state.