State Education’s new category puts OFA grads first in the region when it comes to “Aspirational Performance,” while graduation numbers show OA near the head of the class, too
OWEGO – When New York state released its latest round of education statistics earlier this week, it was the Owego Apalachin school district that lead all of the schools in the upstate region in a new category.
OA’s 2009-2010 graduation rate was among the highest in the Broome-Tioga BOCES region, which includes area school districts from Broome, Chenango, and Tioga counties.
However, even more impressive was OA’s standing in a new category, added to the state’s report for the first time this year – “Aspirational Performance” data.
The ultimate goal is, essentially, college readiness, defined by New York’s new Aspirational Performance Measure (percent of the students who graduated and earned 75 or greater on the ELA Regents and earned 80 or greater on a math Regents) as of August, of those students’ fourth year of high school.
Owego Apalachin ranked first in nearly all of Upstate New York in the new data report; OA’s rate in the new category was 61 percent. OA’s score was the highest score among Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Chemung, Cortland, Otsego, Tioga, Schuyler, Seneca, and Steuben counties, and was nearly the highest in Allegany, Delaware, and Tompkins counties, as well.
Only the Alfred-Almond district in Allegany County, the South Cortwright district in Delaware County, and the Lansing district in Tompkins County equaled or exceeded Owego Apalachin’s score.
OA’s score on the college readiness measure approached doubling the statewide average, which was 36.7 percent.
In this region, Vestal was second with a rate of 60 percent. Other regional schools of interest scored as follows: Chenango Valley 54; Chenango Forks 53; Union-Endicott 49; Maine-Endwell 48; Johnson City 44; Newark Valley 42; Whitney Point 42; Tioga Central 41; Windsor 41; Candor 39; Deposit 30; Harpursville 27; Waverly 26; and, Binghamton 23.
“We are immensely proud of our students’ and teachers’ accomplishment on this new measure of academic performance,” said Dr. Bill Russell, Owego Apalachin superintendent. “It’s a tribute to a lot of hard work across the whole district, and should be a source of satisfaction and pride for the entire community.”
Regarding graduation rates, OA was among the leaders with an 88 percent rate for this four-year grouping of students who graduated after the 2009-2010 school year. That 88 percent includes students who attended BOCES programs. For Owego Free Academy graduates only, the rate is higher, at 90 percent.
In Tioga County, Tioga Central’s graduation number was 89 percent for the same year, narrowly edging OA atop that list. In Broome County, just one district’s graduation rate ranked above OA’s. Chenango Valley (93 percent) sat atop the area’s overall list, followed in Broome by Chenango Forks (87 percent) and Maine-Endwell (86 percent), with Susquehanna Valley and Deposit tied for the next slot (85 percent). Windsor slotted next at 84 percent.
Statewide, New York’s graduation rate last year was 73.4 percent.
“I’m also happy to see such a strong graduation rate,” Dr. Russell said. “In particular, it’s a significant improvement over previous years, continuing a trend toward more and more of our students graduating on time. It’s one of our major goals, and these data show we’re making very substantial progress.”
