The Maine Department of Education has released its most recent figures on high school graduation and dropout rates. The 2008-2009 data show dropout rates ranging from zero percent to 37.5 percent, and much depends on a school's size and zip code. And Maine is now calculating dropout rates using a new federally required method, which allows comparison among other states and schools.

Statewide, Maine's graduation rate for the 2008-2009 school year was 80.4 percent. That means one out of every five students drops out of high school.

"We need every single school in the state of Maine to be at 90 percent by the 2015-2016 calendar year," says Democratic state Sen. Justin Alfond, who sponsored a bill that requires all high schools to graduate 90 percent of their student body by the year 2016.

"There's probably nothing more important to the state of Maine and its future than ensuring that students understand the standards and graduate from our high schools," Alfond says. "No matter where you go to school in Maine, no matter what your zip code is, our duty is to make sure that every student has an equitable education."

But zip codes do play a role in high school graduation rates. High school drop out rates in affluent communities, such as Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, and Camden, are less than one-and-a-half percent, while former mill towns, such as Waterville, Lewiston and Old Town, report dropout rates of between seven and eight percent.

The highest dropout rate of 37.5 percent was reported at SAD #53, which serves Burnham, Detroit and Pittsfield, where only
16 students enrolled. Several schools had dropout rates of zero percent, including Cape Elizabeth, Easton, Greenville, Isleboro, North Haven and Blue Hill high schools.

This was the first year the state calculated its graduation rate with a newly required federal formula. "The goal is to have a formula that will be universal across all states," says David Connerty-Marin, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Education.

He says the new method calculates the graduation rate for a single group of students who entered ninth grade at the same time and who graduated in no more than four years. Previously, the graduation rate was based on all students who graduated in a particular year, regardless of when they started high school.

As a result, the graduation rate for 2008-09 cannot be compared to previous years' rates, because they were calculated differently. "Maine has historically done quite well compared to the nation in terms of our graduation rate," Connerty-Marin says. "We consistently rank in the top ten. But we won't know how we stack up using this new four-year rate for another year or two because states are moving to it now and then of course there's a delay in everybody getting their data in together."

Maine's graduation rate for 2007-08 using the old formula was 83.5 percent. This does not mean the graduation rate is dropping, Connerty-Marin says. Because of the formula change, the rates for most schools and for the state overall will be lower than in the previous year.

The new formula does not take into account students who graduate in five or six years, with an alternative diploma, or with a GED. For that reason, under the new state law, a committee is considering whether to continue calculating separately a graduation rate for the state's own use.