Through NDPC’s Diploma Planning Institutes, Clayton County Public Schools transformed its approach to student support—shifting from reactive fixes to systemic intervention and raising district graduation rates from 53.6% to 86.2%
District Growth
(53.6% to 86.2%)
Riverdale High
(43.1% to 89.1%)
Poverty Rate Context
(52,000 Students)
In 2012, Clayton County Public Schools faced a sobering reality: its four-year high school graduation rate stood at 53.6%, trailing Georgia’s state average by 16 points. Across eight high schools, rates bottomed out as low as 43%, with only a single campus meeting the state baseline. Serving a student body where 99% of learners live in poverty, the district spent years labeled among Georgia's lowest-performing systems.
The turning point came in 2014, when district leadership partnered with the National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) to conduct Diploma Planning Institutes (DPI) across every middle and high school campus.
Rather than treating graduation as an isolated senior-year metric, NDPC worked with Clayton County’s school-based Dropout Prevention Teams to fundamentally rethink student disengagement. The work replaced disconnected initiatives with data-grounded intervention systems. Guided by NDPC, campus teams learned to analyze school-specific root causes, establish early warning triggers, and implement localized, targeted action plans.
“That work was significant because it caused us to look differently at graduation—not simply as a rate that we reported, but as the culmination of every decision, intervention, relationship, and opportunity provided to a student throughout their educational journey,” explains Dr. Alicia Dunn, Clayton County’s Director of Counseling, Enrollment, Post-Secondary Readiness & Strategic Improvement. “Graduation-rate improvement could no longer be viewed as something that happened during senior year or as the sole responsibility of high schools. It had to become a K–12 commitment centered on prevention, early identification, intentional intervention, student advocacy, and strong systems of support.”
| Baseline (2012) | Midpoint (2018) | Long-Term Impact (2025) |
|---|---|---|
| District: 53.6% | District: 71.7% | District: 86.2% |
| Riverdale: 43.1% | — | Riverdale: 89.1% |
That shift changed daily practice across the district. Schools built intentional monitoring protocols around graduation cohorts, tracking credits and academic progress in real time while expanding credit recovery, individualized planning, and targeted attendance supports.
The long-term impact proved transformative. By 2018, Clayton County’s districtwide graduation rate reached 71.7%. By 2025, it climbed to 86.2%—highlighted by Riverdale High School, which more than doubled its rate from 43.1% in 2012 to 89.1%, surpassing the state average.
“More than a decade later, one of the greatest lessons from our work with the National Dropout Prevention Center remains incredibly relevant: students do not become dropout statistics overnight,” says Dr. Dunn. “There are indicators, there are opportunities to intervene, and there are adults who can change the trajectory. Behind every graduation-rate percentage is a student, a family, and a story.
Let’s take a closer look at your district’s needs and whether DPI is the right fit. This is a short, no-pressure conversation. We’ll learn more about your current approach, walk through how DPI works, and answer any questions you have. If it makes sense to move forward, we’ll outline next steps for your team.
No preparation needed. Just share what you're currently working through.