Putnam County leaders say ACE courses, dual enrollment helped lift graduation rates; district reports strong subgroup results

Superintendent Rick Cerny said on the Putnam County School District's podcast that the district's recent rise in graduation rates reflects expanded course access and targeted student supports.

Cerny, the district superintendent and episode host, framed the second half of the program around systems and school-level practices that officials say are sustaining higher on‑time graduation rates. He said the district now offers ACE/Cambridge diploma pathways and ACE courses across its secondary schools and has ramped up dual-enrollment opportunities and early-college eligibility.

Jonathan, a high school principal, said every subgroup tracked at the state level for the class of 2025 exceeded the state average. "In the subgroup of free and reduced lunch, we were first in the state," Jonathan said, adding that "96% of those students graduated on time with their standard diploma." He also said the district's English-language-learners cohort graduated at 100% on time.

Laura, a high school principal, told listeners the district has focused on subgroup outcomes and worked to give students access and opportunity across career and acceleration pathways. Speakers noted that as more students meet grade-level reading and math standards, the district can offer higher-level coursework such as media studies, travel and tourism, and expanded music options.

Panelists credited a combination of early literacy and numeracy interventions, school-based monitoring, counselors and leadership teams for identifying students who fall behind and reconnecting them to coursework or concordant assessment opportunities such as the SAT to meet graduation requirements. "When you're not reading on grade level, options like that aren't even available to kids," one participant said, describing the multi-year emphasis on early grades that preceded higher secondary outcomes.

The guests also described the district's "portrait of a graduate," a set of six competencies developed in 2020' 2021 by a committee of community members, counselors and staff. Officials said those competencies ' communication, resilience and other skills ' are being reinforced from pre-K through grade 12 and tied to curricular opportunities such as AP, industry certifications, ACE courses and dual enrollment.

Cerny thanked students, families, community members and business partners for their role in the work and encouraged listeners to contact district staff with questions. The podcast closed with a note that there are further topics to discuss in future episodes.

Note: The statistics cited (96% on‑time graduation for the free-and-reduced-lunch subgroup and 100% on‑time graduation for the English-language-learners cohort) were reported by district speakers on the podcast and are presented here as claims they made; the episode did not include external documentation of those figures.