Recently released statistics show graduation rates for 2016-17 in Mid-Missouri schools vary quite a bit.
Some schools did extremely well. Tuscumbia High School in the Miller County R-3 School District had a four-year graduation rate of 100 percent at the end of the 2016-17 school year. Other public schools - Jefferson City and Fulton - continue to struggle.
We recently reported on the statistics, released annually by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Jefferson City High School had the second lowest average graduation rate among Mid-Missouri districts - 83.5 percent. The Fulton 58 School District had the lowest rate at 81.6 percent.
Both are trying different strategies to raise their respective numbers.
Fulton is looking at a holistic approach that includes labeling each student with a graduating class. Students entering first grade are part of the Class of 2031.
Jefferson City has focused on having their students read at or above what's expected for their grade. By emphasizing reading, Superintendent Larry Linthicum said, "graduation rates and those other things will take care of (themselves)."
Missouri's compulsory attendance law generally requires students to attend school until the age of 17.
To increase their graduation rates, schools must prevent students from dropping out.
Doing that requires people as much as policies. It requires keeping students interested, and having a personal touch. Teachers, counselors, administrators and others within the district must truly care and encourage students. They need to make time to talk to both the students and parents about any barriers to their education.
That said, schools can't do it alone. The philosophy "It takes a village to raise a child" is true, and it starts, obviously, with the mother and father.
Jerald Jones Woolfolk, Lincoln University's new president, has earned three degrees, including a PhD. On Sunday, she told a group that, probably before she knew how to read or write, everyone in her small Mississippi community - from her parents to her church to her teachers - told her and her siblings: "You're going to college."
It's that kind of village that helps schools - and ultimately their students - to succeed.