Akron’s graduation rate ranks fifth among the largest urban school systems on this year’s report card.But if the state’s tough new accounting method were in effect, Akron would have the highest graduation rate among Ohio’s eight big city districts.The official state report cards released this morning show each district’s graduation number under the current formula and what the rate would be with the new method, which won’t affect district scores until next year.The current rate is an estimate based on district reporting. The new method tracks individual students and only counts those who finish in four years or less as graduates.Akron’s current 76.4 percent graduation rate actually climbs to 76.8 percent under the stricter accounting, a pleasant surprise for district officials who expected a slight decline based on preliminary numbers.The difference between the two rates for many other districts is dramatic, especially for those big-city systems that currently show a higher graduation rate than Akron.Dayton leads Ohio’s big eight this year with an 84.4 percent graduation rate based on the current estimate. Under the new tracking method, Dayton’s rate would drop 25 percentage points.Cincinnati’s 81.9 percent current graduation rate tumbles 21.7 points under the new method.Toledo’s rate falls 17 percentage points, and Canton’s rate drops about almost 10.Barberton’s 92 percent graduation rate, which just clears the bar for passing the standard, would be 74.5 percent under the stricter measure.Springfield, Cuyahoga Falls, Woodridge and Manchester also pass for graduation rates now but would fail under the new measure. Because the new rate appears only for information purposes this year, the districts will get credit for passing the existing standard.The changes don’t reflect a change in the number of dropouts, according to the Ohio Department of Education, just the way those dropouts are counted.Dropout rates have been notoriously difficult to pin down and compare across state lines because each state has a different way to calculate them.In 2008, the U.S. Department of Education required all states to move to a simple formula based on how many students graduate in four years or less. Each student has an identification number, which makes it easier for the state to track them from school to school and district to district.The state divides the number of graduates each year by the number of students who started ninth grade together four years earlier, which is adjusted for those who move in and out of a district.So why is Akron’s current estimated rate so close to the new formula and other big city districts’ estimates are so far off? Some districts might have assumed that students who stopped coming to school had transferred to another district and just withdrew them. Now the state can track those students and confirm if they really transferred. If they didn’t, those students would be counted as dropouts, which will lower those districts’ graduation rates.Ellen McWilliams, Akron’s assistant superintendent, said the district’s nearly religious efforts to track its own students probably explains why its estimated rate is so close to the new, more rigorous measure. Before the new tracking system, districts could just enter a code into the state data system indicating the student had withdrawn and enrolled in another district.“We never did that unless we actually got a real contact from another school district that said, ‘The student has withdrawn. Will you please send transcripts and records,’ ” McWilliams said. “We didn’t just let kids go AWOL without tracking them down and trying to find out where they were.”She said the district sends teams out every October into the neighborhoods to find students who didn’t show up for school. They check last known addresses, and if no one answers at the door, they ask neighbors.“We’ve called relatives in West Virginia to try to find out where a family moved, any kind of last known addresses and contacts and emergency contacts,” McWilliams said. “We keep trying until we have every single one of those kids in October tracked down, and then that kind of tracking continues through the year.”Akron gets state money only for the kids who are physically in the buildings for the October enrollment count, so there’s no financial incentive to keep them on the books if the district isn’t sure where they are.“Even if they show up the next day after that count week, we don’t get money for them,” McWilliams said.Keeping missing kids on the books hurts the district’s state scores because they’re untested students.But if those students are true dropouts, Akron has already accounted for them.Wednesday morning, state Superintendent Stan Heffner said Akron’s consistency has paid off.“They are evidence that when you pay attention to the data and engage in the rules for how we account for kids, that ultimately will come back as a reward for the district and did so this year.”Districts such as Toledo, Dayton and Cincinnati have posted better graduation rates than Akron in recent years, leaving Akron school officials to explain why their district has lagged behind.“We feel justified now and actually rather proud of our practices,” McWilliams said. “We knew this was right for kids — the way that we’ve been tracking students — and it’s nice to see that we actually get honored for that tracking system now that the new graduation rate has been put into place.”John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com. 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