Statistics released last week by the state Department of Education show St. Martin Parish public high schools graduating a good percentage of students.
The report on cohort graduation (calculated on the number of entering freshmen graduating in four years, based on the 2017 senior class) shows that 83.7 percent of the local freshmen who started high school in 2013 graduated in 2017.
This is an improvement over the 2016 graduation rate of 81.4 percent and ranks St. Martin Parish third in the Acadiana region, trailing only Acadia and Evangeline parishes.
Cecilia High led the way with a rate of 88.6 percent, followed by St. Martinville Sr. High (83.9 percent) and Breaux Bridge High (80.1 percent).
Rates at standard area high schools (non-magnet or specialty) ranged from a low of 56.9 percent at Opelousas High to 84.8 percent at Loreauville High.
The top regular high school in the area was Basile High in Evangeline Parish with a rate of 95 percent, a figure also achieved by the Early College Academy in Lafayette Parish and the Magnet Academy for Cultural Arts in St. Landry Parish.
“These positive statistics for St. Martin Parish are the results of parish wide efforts to meet the needs of all of our high school students,” said Superintendent Dr. Lottie Beebe. “With state support we have implemented two new pathways to graduation – TOPS-University and Jump Start.”
The TOPS-University program is a traditional college prep plan that enables parish students to earn college credit through LSU and LSU-Eunice while still in high school. The credits are accepted at all Louisiana public colleges and universities.
Jump Start opens up vocational opportunities for students to earn industry-accepted credentials that enable them to enter the workforce upon graduation with experience and skills.
The parish opened the College and Career Readiness Center in Breaux Bridge enabling students from the the three high schools to study such diverse vocations as electricity, nursing and cosmetology. “The Center is expanding,” says Beebe, “and will soon offer welding and other vocations which provide good salaries and career opportunities.”
More parish high school students are opting for the dual enrollment path, with the number increasing from 29 percent in 2015-16 to 42 percent in 2016-17.
Students at Breaux Bridge and Cecilia are showing the most interest with 47 percent of BBHS students in dual programs and 46.6 percent at Cecilia High.
Only 32.3 percent of St. Martinville Sr. High students took advantage of the programs.
