Why would parents prefer Corbin schools over Knox County schools – Part 3

– Look at the difference in high school graduation rates

Here’s another reason why parents would clearly prefer the Corbin Independent Schools to those in the Knox County School District. High school graduation rates in the two school districts are light-years apart.


The formula used to compute the ‘Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate’ (AFGR) has been thoroughly researched by the US Department of Education. It is a MUCH more accurate formula than the one currently used by the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE). That KDE formula is known to provide highly inflated results and to provide widely varying accuracy from district to district. In fact, the KDE has announced it is switching to the AFGR in 2011.

In any event, the data is very clear.

A high percentage of the kids in Corbin graduate.

About one in three kids in Knox County doesn’t.



Here is the data used to compute the AFGR.


The enrollment comes from annual Growth Factor Reports for the listed years and the graduation counts are from the 2008 ‘Grad Rate 0408’ Excel Spreadsheet.

Note that – in line with No Child Left Behind definitions – only students who graduate with a regular diploma in the standard four years of high school plus students with learning disabilities who get a regular diploma within five years (IEP-5) are included in the graduation counts.