CCPS graduation rate steady at ~90%; board shifts focus to at‑risk subgroups and alternative pathways

Charles County Public Schools presented its latest graduation and dropout analysis at the Feb. 10 board meeting, showing a 4‑year adjusted cohort graduation rate for the class of 2025 of about 90.32% and ongoing subgroup gaps that the district plans to address through school‑level interventions.

Director Donovan Lowndes and shared‑accountability director Steve Roberts explained the Maryland adjusted‑cohort methodology and the difference between 4‑ and 5‑year cohort measures. Roberts showed that for the 2025 cohort the district started with roughly 2,268 first‑time 9th graders and ended with 2,239 students receiving diplomas in the 4‑year window. He noted that the stateigure dipped slightly while Charles County remains above the state average in the 4‑year metric.

The presentation flagged subgroup trends. Roberts and district staff said gains were visible for some groups but that economically disadvantaged students, multilingual learners (ML), and students with disabilities remain overrepresented among dropouts in several schools. Thomas Stone High School was cited as a school with concentrated multilingual populations and identified barriers including chronic attendance driven by work, family responsibilities and students arriving academically behind. Lowndes and Roberts described targeted strategies at Thomas Stone: school‑based extended‑day cohorts, Summit K12 resources for language development, attendance initiatives and rigorous credit‑recovery and summer‑school programming.

Board members and school leaders discussed alternatives to keep students on track: virtual academy enrollment (which the district said has been strengthened in rigor and credit opportunities), night school, Saturday school pilots, expanded credit recovery, AVID and peer mentoring. Superintendent Maria Navarro said the district is exploring pilots and intends to bring school‑level staff into future conversations so principals and counselors can explain case‑management and family outreach steps.

Board members asked for clearer breakdowns of students who pursue certificate pathways versus diploma pathways and whether data can disaggregate students who earn certificates from those who remain diploma-eligible but do not complete. Roberts said the district and a state task force have requested that same adjusted metric from MSDE and will pursue more granular reporting where permissible.

What's next: District staff said they will return with targeted implementation ideas for schools with the largest subgroup gaps and with proposals for outreach and pilot alternative‑scheduling options that account for equity and connectivity constraints.