Appleton Area School District works to address racial disparity in graduation rates

APPLETON (WLUK) -- The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) recently certified graduation rates for the 2023 graduating class, and the Appleton Area School District (AASD) is reporting gaps between white and Asian versus black and Hispanic students.

With the 2024 graduation around the corner, AASD administrators are looking at new data on last year's class. The information is both promising and concerning for superintendent Greg Hartjes.

"For the most part, we're satisfied with our graduation rate, but we think we can do better and we're hoping that our trajectory continues to go up," Hartjes said.

Information given at the Monday's board of education meeting shows the district's overall graduation rate has improved each of the last two years. Still, gaps remain between white and minority students.

"How important is it that you continue addressing these gaps?" FOX 11 asked.

We don't ever give up on a student," Hartjes said. "We do see a lot of kids kind of have a lightbulb go on for them some point maybe in their junior or senior year and recognize they need to do some things differently in life to earn a high school diploma, and we're always willing to work with them on that.

Hartjes says there are over 20 ways students can still earn a diploma after four years.

"What kinds of things is the Appleton School District providing as far as options for these students?" FOX 11 asked.

"Summer school. We have some students that need more than that, they might need two or three credits, so it might make sense to come back the next year," Hartjes said. "Often we're looking at different programs that don't mean coming back into a bricks and mortar school."

The DPI also certified graduation rates for the five-year class of 2022 and six-year class of 2021. Those show significantly smaller discrepancies. However, school board member Nick Ross expressed a desire to start finding ways to address the gaps sooner.

"It's great that we can get a lot of these students to graduate but that's, you know, one more, two more, three more years of working on high school stuff before they can fully enter the workforce," Ross said.

FOX 11 also reached out to African Heritage Inc, an Appleton based African-American advocacy group, for comment on this story. We did not hear back.

AASD's overall graduation rate in 2023 was just under 87%. The figure was at a low point in 2021 at just under 85%. Hartjes says he's aiming for an eventual return to the mid-90s.