McLean and Langley Record Above Average On-Time Graduation Rates

There is a time and a place to be fashionably late.

Walking across stage to receive your high school diploma is not that time- a lesson McLean area students seem to have learned well. With on-time graduation rates of 98.6 percent and 95.7 percent last school year at Langley High School and McLean High School, respectively, McLean students continue to graduate at rates above the state and county averages. While Langley’s rate slightly improved by a .2-percent increase, McLean’s rate dropped by a .4-percent decrease from the 2009-10 school year, according to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). 

The average rate for on-time graduation from the class of 2011 across Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) was 91.4 percent, a slight increase from 91.2 percent for the class of 2010. The countywide average exceeds the commonwealth average of 86.6 percent by 4.8 percentage points. 

FCPS Superintendent Jack Dale attributes the higher than average graduation rates of McLean area students to community expectations which compel the students to perform well. 

“I think McLean has a highly educated population of parents with clear expectations for their children to not only graduate high school, but attend college,” said Dale.

According to the FCPS website, “Virginia’s on-time graduation rate is based on four years of student-level data that take into account student mobility, changes in student enrollment, and the needs of special education and limited English proficient students.” 

The label of “on-time graduate for 2011” applies to a student who began ninth grade for the first time in the 2007-08 school year and earned a diploma recognized by the Virginia Board of Education in four years or less. The six recognized diplomas are a standard diploma, advanced studies diploma, International Baccalaureate diploma, general achievement diploma, modified standard diploma or a special diploma. These figures represent over 13,300 students in Fairfax county whose progress has been tracked over the last four years.  

All but one of the county’s 25 high schools and secondary schools recorded on-time graduation rates above the state average, and 16 of the schools, including Langley, improved their graduation rates from the 2009-10 school year. 

The McLean area students also have lower dropout rates than both the county and state averages, with Langley recording a .8 percent dropout rate and McLean posting a 3 percent dropout rate. The county average is 5.4 percent, and the state average is 7.2 percent. 

The only subgroups across Fairfax County not posting on-time graduation rates above the Virginia state average are Hispanic students, Native Hawaiian students, homeless students and students whose race was unknown. However, Langley and McLean students either score above the state average or do not meet the state definition for personally identifiable results in these subgroups. 

Dale said his goals for the county regarding on-time graduation rates include maintaining above average graduation rates, analyzing programs that have proven successful in improving graduation rates and applying them to the 8.6% of students who aren’t completing high school and trying to solve that issue. 

“Our work is not complete until every student in the county has a Virginia high school diploma,” said Dale. 

Detailed graduation, completion, and dropout data for Fairfax County Public Schools and the state of Virginia can be found on the VDOE website.