By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Warsaw Community High School saw an all-time high graduation rate in 2024, with 98.1 percent of students having met state requirements.
It’s also the highest among public schools in Kosciusko County and better than some of the other big high schools in the region including Penn, Carrol and Homestead, according to Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert.
The improvement involves a close tracking of student progress.
“It’s an achievement that really starts when a kid walks in as a kindergartner and it goes all the way through the 12th grade,” Hoffert said. “And kudos to our high school guidance staff.”
“You have to follow every single one of those kids … you’re watching every single class that these kids take,” he said.
The school district’s graduation rate goal in the past year was 96 percent.
Hoffert notes that it wasn’t long ago that the high school’s grad rate was in the 70s and 80s.
The improvement is part of a trend across Indiana.
Statewide, 90.23 percent of Hoosier students graduated, according to a report released by Indiana’s Department of Education last week. IDOE officials said it’s the highest graduation rate since the state began publishing data.
Hoffert credits changes since the pandemic in which the curriculum has been fine-tuned and made more relevant for students focused on careers.
He scoffs at the notion that schools across the state are somehow making it easier for students to graduate.
“No, I would say making it more relevant,” Hoffert said, pointing to the large growth and focus on career pathways for students.
“I think the curriculum has actually become much more rigorous inside of it and I think the relevance is probably what has gotten better,” he said.
A database on graduation rates can be found in this story by WFYI.
Hoffert talked with News Now Warsaw for an upcoming episode of In the Know, which you can hear his weekend on Kensington Digital Media radio stations.
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In The Know can be heard at the following times:
News Now Warsaw (99.7 FM and 1480 AM):
Fridays at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Saturdays at 7 a.m.
Sundays at 7 a.m. & 2 p.m.
WRSW (107.3):
Sundays at 6 a.m.
Willie (103.5 FM):
Sundays at 6 a.m.
