WAPS Reports Rise in Graduation Rates

2022 WSHS Graduation

(KWNO)- Winona Area Public Schools reported in a press release that graduation rates continue to rise.

The district-wide graduation rate rose to 84.1%, up from 79.7 % in 2021 in 2019, the press release said. For Winona Senior High School, the graduation rate rose to 90.3%, up from 87.4% in 2021, and at the Winona Area learning Center, the graduation rate rose to 60.8$, a drastic increase from 34% in 2021 and 17% in 2020.

The district-wide graduation rate exceeds the state average of 83.3%, the first time since 2017 that WAPS has done such a thing.

“These numbers confirms that we are heading in the right direction at Winona area public schools,” Superintendent Dr. Anette K. Freiheit said. “First of all, our students deserve the credit for the determination and drive they show every day in the classroom. This is a testament to their hard work. But this is also a sing that the collaborative work of teachers, staff members and administrators to make systemic changes to support individual needs is paying off.”

This is a reference to the district being in the early stages of implementing Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, or MTSS, a framework that schools use to provide a continuum of support to students. The press release states that MTSS relies on data-based decision making, infrastructure that supports continuous improvement and meaningful family engagement to provide rigorous and relevant learning experiences.

The district is also expanding the number of students who have access to the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, providing more professional development for staff in the areas of inclusive and effective teaching methods, and identifying and monitoring social-emotional learning goals for all students, says the press release.

While the graduation rates increased, they did fall just short of goals set in the World’s Best Workforce Report for WSHS (92.4%) and district-wide (84.7%).

“We will continue to set lofty but achievable goals for our students and staff,” Freiheit said. “We believe in the systems we are putting in place and we know that we will continue to see positive results in the future.”

The press release says that Freiheit will present more on the graduation data to the school board sat the May 4 meeting.