Tattnall County High School’s (TCHS) graduation rate in 2022 reached 92.2 percent, Principal LaKisha Bobbitt announced at the October Board of Education (BOE) meeting. This is a major improvement from the 2013 rate of 65.9 percent. 

Bobbitt credits much of this increase to the hard work of the teachers and students on both the TCHS campus and the Warrior Academy campus. The formulas that determine the graduation rate may vary and affect ratings as well.

The graduation rates have continued to climb, with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the 2021 graduation rate:

2019 Graduation rate - 88.6

2020 Graduation rate - 89.2

2021 Graduation rate - 88.3

2022 Graduation rate - 92.2

“In 2020, we had COVID-19 during part of the year. The 2020-2021 school year was our first full school year during the COVID pandemic. That was the year, especially since it was my entry year, that I was most afraid of. I was not sure how much the pandemic was going to drop the graduation rate, but we ended up dropping less than a point. That was a win for us,” Bobbitt said.

Some of the subgroups that showed a decrease in their graduation rate in 2021 were:  Black students, Hispanic students, and Students with Disabilities (see photo for graph).

“In 2021, you see drops in some of our subgroups,” Bobbitt said. “These drops could be attributed to the effects of poverty on these particular subgroups. However, in 2022, all subgroups showed growth. During the presentation to staff, I had not yet learned of the numbers from our surrounding counties, but I informed staff that we had already won because we beat ourselves. We are our biggest competition.

“We are focusing on the things and the strategies that we have in place and are doing right. We want to sustain this type of growth, but the main thing is we do not want to go backwards. We must continue to move forward one step at a time,” Bobbitt said.