LPS 2022 graduation rates rebounding despite pandemic

Lincoln Public Schools released the 2022 graduation rates showing that every high school saw an increase in the number of students graduating over the previous years where there was a continuous slight decline.

“We’re really excited about this data,” said Matt Larson, LPS associate superintendent for instruction. “This is more evidence that our teachers and administrators did a great job during the pandemic to not only slow or stop the decline, but turn it around. This is a credit to their work and dedication to student success.”

LPS uses two sets of data for evaluating and assessing the high school graduation rate in the school district – using formulas that are slightly different.  For more than 25 years, LPS has followed the general rule of calculating graduation rates for students who start as ninth graders in the school district and graduate in four years on time. The LPS four-year graduation rate for the class of 2022 is up two points to 83.9%. This is the highest graduation rate for LPS since 2018.

The Nebraska Department of Education calculated LPS 4-year graduation rate for the class of 2022 is up 1.8 to 82.3% from 80.5% in 2021. This is the highest graduation rate since 2018. The state graduation rate declined 0.4 while LPS improved against the state trend.

“This is not just a high school graduation rate,” added Sarah Salem, director of continuous improvement and professional learning. “This is a preK-12 celebration and really speaks to the work taking place in elementary and middle schools as well.”

In 2021, the Lincoln Board of Education directed staff to develop an All Means All Action Plan for Equitable Outcomes. One of the four goals includes raising the all student graduation rate to 87%, and reducing the existing differentials from all students by 50%.

“While we are celebrating this overall positive news, we recognize much work remains and LPS is far from reaching our goals, particularly with respect to most disaggregated groups.”

In addition to the four-year graduation rate, LPS looks at the seven-year graduation rate. This includes students who may not graduate on-time, but do finish school and obtain a degree. LPS seven-year graduation rate declined 2.1 to 85.5%. The state seven-year graduation rate also declined 0.9. 

Larson added, “This year’s seven-year rate is based on the Class of 2019. These students would have been fifth, sixth and seventh year seniors during the pandemic. Complications of the pandemic likely made it more challenging for students to complete graduation.”

Beginning in 2018, NDE changed how they counted students who received an alternate diploma. This change reduced the graduation rates for schools across the state. This is the first time LPS has seen an increase since that change. 

“Although one point in time is clearly not a trend, the steady decline in the graduation rate appears to have ended. This signals that the measures put in place after the calculation rules were changed in 2018 are beginning to take hold,” said Larson.

Below are the rates by school and disaggregated data:

Year	LPS Graduation Calculation	NDE 4-Year Graduation Calculation		NDE 7-Year Graduation Calculation
		LPS	State	LPS	State
2016	85.6%	83.2%	89.3%	90.2%	92.7%
2017	85.2%	82.8%	89.1%	90.3%	93.4%
Beginning in 2018, NDE began counting students who received an alternate diploma as not graduating. This change reduced the graduation rates for the 2018 graduation cohort and after.
2018	84.3%	82.5%	89.0%	89.2%	93.1%
2019	83.6%	81.8%	88.4%	89.7%	93.1%
2020	82.5%	80.8%	87.5%	89.8%	93.2%
2021	81.9%	80.5%	87.6%	87.6%	92.6%
2022	83.9%	82.3%	87.2%	85.5%	91.7%

LPS District Longitudinal Graduation Rate by School 2016-2022
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
East	93.6%	94.5%	93.3%	92.4%	91.1%	90.5%	91.4%
LHS	76.4%	69.8%	73.2%	76.4%	74.8%	74.4%	77.9%
Northeast	81.1%	74.7%	77.1%	70.2%	73.6%	70.5%	74.7%
Southeast	87.1%	90.1%	85.5%	82.2%	84.0%	81.4%	83.8%
North Star	80.7%	85.1%	81.0%	85.5%	77.8%	81.1%	81.7%
Southwest	93.3%	93.9%	94.9%	92.0%	91.6%	91.6%	92.7%

LPS District Longitudinal Graduation Rate by Race/Ethnicity 2016-2022
	All Students	American Indian	Asian	Black	Latino/a	2 or More Races	White
2016	85.6%	52.9%	84.5%	81.2%	74.6%	79.7%	88.5%
2017	85.2%	42.9%	88.0%	79.2%	75.8%	78.5%	88.1%
2018	84.3%	35.7%	85.1%	73.8%	73.6%	80.2%	87.8%
2019	83.6%	68.8%	86.1%	72.3%	76.0%	74.0%	87.2%
2020	82.5%	57.1%	90.5%	65.5%	67.3%	72.5%	87.3%
2021	81.9%	52.6%	92.5%	64.9%	72.2%	71.3%	85.8%
2022	83.9%	41.4%	90.3%	70.4%	72.1%	76.7%	88.6%

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