ANDERSON, Ind. — Who is being recognized by the Indiana Department of Education for improved graduation rates?

Anderson High School can raise its metaphorical hand.

AHS has tied for 14th place out of the top 20 for the most improvement in non-waiver graduation rates for the 2010-11 school year.

That improvement was a 13.2 increase and brought the non-waiver graduation rate from 46.2 percent in 2010 to 59.4 percent in 2011, according to Stephanie Sample, communications director for the department.

“We were just thrilled,” AHS Principal Lucinda McCord said.

She said the school is proud of last year’s senior class, especially because it only had a year to adjust after consolidation of Anderson and Highland high schools.

Did that consolidation play a role in the increase?

According to McCord, Highland had a 67 percent statutory graduation rate — which includes waivers for state exams — its last year in 2010 compared to Anderson’s 59.6 percent.

That’s not large enough of a difference to make that large of an impact, she said. But if it had been a troublesome move, the rates probably wouldn’t have been as high.

“The kids came together here well,” she said. “They made it work, were determined to make it work.”

She said worries about unity and possible fights were quickly quelled.

In the summer of 2010, when consolidation began, counselors spent time going over the senior’s schedules to make sure they were on track to graduate, McCord said. She spoke with students who were on the borderline about after-school help and credit retrieval. The credit-retrieval program allows students to take an online course to replace credits they have failed.

“We spent a lot of time talking to the kids,” she said, making sure they would finish school.

McCord said the school also communicated with parents and tried to make more of a “positive, encouraging atmosphere for the kids.”

Officials now review transcripts twice a year with students to make sure everything is in place and there are no missing grades.

High school credits are treated like college credits. If a student doesn’t have enough credits, he or she doesn’t advance to the next grade level. It works as an incentive to get caught up, McCord said. For example, those old enough to be seniors don’t want to have to say they’re sophomores, and being unable to attend events like the junior-senior prom because credits don’t reflect that grade level are motivators, she said.

The grade level is “tied to things wanted to do,” McCord said. “That made a difference.”

While the improvement in graduation rates is good news for ACS, the district still has a long way to go to reach state Superintendent Tony Bennett’s goal of a 90 percent graduation rate for all students in Indiana.

McCord said the eight-step process and new ACS restructuring plans may help. The eight-step process, which was started late last spring, provides remedial lessons and AP courses, helps older students with SAT scores and provides purposeful lessons while focusing on course standards. Restructuring will bring ninth-graders back into AHS and allow them to feel like high school kids, McCord said. They will have the seniors to look up to and, with events like college sweatshirt day, hopefully have a higher interest in college, she said.

The statutory rate, again including those state exam waivers, for AHS was 66.2 percent in 2011 compared to 59.6 percent in 2010, according to the IDOE.

Sample said they honor schools based on the non-waiver rates because those who graduate on a waiver are less likely to get into a good school.

“(Non-waiver graduation rates are) better reflective of the kids’ college readiness,” she said.

Lapel Senior High School was also recognized for its graduation rates.

The school had a 94.7 percent non-waiver graduation rate in 2011, making it the 16th highest rate in Indiana, the IDOE said.

Contact Dani Palmer: 640-4847, dani.palmer@heraldbulletin.com