High school graduation, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: Rising after a low start
Conewago Township’s Rudy’s School, then a private residence, sustained damage in this 2006 fire. Education in these one-room schools ended before high school, contributing to low high school graduation rates years later. Background posts: One-room school days fascinate history fans and Little school house in Hanover: A story of the circus and coal room and 18th-century mines gave Ore Valley its name.
A YorkCounts report indicates that most York County public school districts have shown gradual improvement in graduation rates.
Still, the 2000 Census shows that one out of five York countians do not have high school degrees.
Don’t blame that entirely on the York City School District, where graduation rates fall in low 60-percent range (and improving.) …
YorkCounts released the following chart showing high school graduation trends.
Indeed, at one time, a 60 percent graduation rate for York County would have been good.
A contributing cause is the combination of an agriculturally based county with a large number of one-room schools – tops in the state before World War II.
One-room schools did not cover high school grades, so many students ended their education when their classes in one-room schools ran out. They often stayed home to work on the farm.
Remember that low-60s graduation rate at in York City schools?
Fewer than half of York countians held a high school diploma in 1970.
So, the county has come a long way.
– For a site rich in York County one-room school content, click here.
Other posts in this series:
– Farmland preservation, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: Ag use outpacing population growth
– Further education plans, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: Post-high-school prospects rising
– Teen motherhood, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: Despite historic occurrence among Pennsylvania Dutch, rate is falling
– High school graduation, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: Rising after a low start.
– Tobacco usage, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: Rooted in York County’s past.
– Bias-related incidents, YorkCounts quality-of-life indicator: ‘A concern in York County’ .
