Douglas High leaders highlight strong AP pass rates, graduation gains as district reports rising graduation rate

Douglas High School leaders told the Douglas County School District Board of Trustees that the high school’s academic and co-curricular programs produced strong results this year while schoolwide priorities remain reducing absenteeism and algebra failure rates.

Principal Rex and members of his administrative team presented enrollment stability, college-credit achievements and athletic honors at the board meeting. The principal said Douglas High’s Advanced Placement program recorded an 87 percent pass rate on about 601 AP exams, and he highlighted that 11 graduating seniors last year earned an associate degree along with a high school diploma. "An 87 percent pass rate on over 600 AP exams is really terrific," Principal Rex said.

The principal told trustees the school’s current attendance rate is about 93.37 percent and the Douglas High star rating under the Nevada school performance framework is a 4‑star designation with a point value of 78.5—up 0.5 from the prior year but short of the 82 points needed for 5 stars. He said the school’s overall graduation rate is 92.48 percent and noted recent National Merit recognition for students, including a 2025 National Merit winner who has been admitted to Columbia University.

Athletics and career-technical education were a prominent part of the presentation. Dan Singer, Douglas High’s athletic director, described team achievements including academic state championships for boys basketball and cheer and the school’s first female state wrestling champion since 2011. The principal also described CTE offerings—culinary, welding, auto (dual credit through WNC), computer science, JROTC, and an education pathway tied to Western Nevada College—and partnerships such as the sports-medicine collaboration with Barton Health where students gain hands-on exposure.

Administrators acknowledged concerns that contributed to the district and school priorities. Assistant Principal Kelly Winter, formerly a math teacher, told trustees that Algebra I is the school’s highest failure rate outside of online credit‑recovery classes and that the school has launched a cohort-focused intervention strategy examining demographic, IEP, housing stability and other factors for students failing in November to track their semester improvements. "Algebra I is the highest failure rate that we have other than our online credit recovery classes," Winter said.

District graduation data presented separately by Ashley Mitchell, district staff, showed that the Douglas County School District’s adjusted cohort graduation rate rose to 88.18 percent in 2024, with 403 graduates in the district’s cohort. Mitchell said of those 403 graduates, 98 received a standard diploma, 98 received an advanced diploma and 107 were designated career and college ready; 10 students completed HiSET or adjusted diplomas and 34 were counted as dropouts. Subgroup gains included an increase in English Learner graduation from 59 to 73 percent and a rise in graduation for students in transition (homeless) from 39 to 43 percent.

Why it matters: Trustees said the presentation reinforced priorities already identified by the district—raising ACT scores and reducing algebra failure and chronic absenteeism—while also illustrating where targeted interventions appear to be working. Trustees and staff discussed partnerships, staffing and budgeting to support interventions and professional learning time (PLC) for teachers.

Board reaction and next steps: Trustees asked for follow‑up data on algebra interventions and middle‑school alignment steps. Staff said Douglas High used board intervention funds to create ACT‑aligned interim assessments and will share results when available. Administrators also said they will continue work with Cognia accreditation mid‑cycle review items and report progress at future board meetings.

Ending: The presentations closed with trustees thanking students, staff and community donors for recent facility and scoreboard upgrades that school leaders said supported student activities and school pride.