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Muscogee County reports 96.1% graduation rate; SAT and AP results show mixed gains
Summary
District staff told the school board the four‑year graduation rate rose to 96.1% for the most recent cohort, SAT composite and AP exam participation increased, and staff will provide more detailed counts on request.
Emily Schulter Starkebaum, senior director of research, assessment and accountability for the Muscogee County School District, told the Board of Education on Oct. 13 that the district’s four‑year graduation rate reached 96.1 percent for the most recent cohort, a two‑percentage‑point increase from the prior year.
The increase, Schulter Starkebaum said, places Muscogee County above the state and national averages she cited: “the state was about 87% this year” and national graduation figures were near 87%. She urged caution in year‑to‑year comparisons, saying cohorts change and numbers “are gonna ebb and flow naturally.”
The presentation also covered SAT and Advanced Placement performance. Schulter Starkebaum reported an average SAT composite score near 1,081 for the most recent cohort — an increase she said represents about a 19‑point rise over the prior year — and said the district outperformed state and national averages in evidence‑based reading and writing. On AP testing, the district administered “over 3,400 AP exams,” which the presenter initially said represented about 1,100 individual students and later referred to as 1,615 unique AP students; she said AP test participation rose about 12 percent year over year and AP pass rates improved roughly 5 percentage points.
Board members pressed for raw counts. “Do we know exactly how many students are represented in these numbers?” asked a board member. Schulter Starkebaum said she did not have the full sample counts on the slides and offered to provide the precise student and exam counts after the meeting or by message.
Why this matters: graduation, standardized test and AP results are commonly used to evaluate districtwide academic trends and drive decisions about programming, staffing and state reporting. The district flagged follow‑up items for board members, including distribution of the underlying SAT and AP counts and further breakdowns that could explain differences with state AP pass rates.
The district indicated staff will return with the requested counts and additional breakdowns at a later date.
