Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

Tuesday, May 21, 2013  Georgia Department of Education officials have released new graduation numbers and say that the public high school graduation rate rose more than two percentage points over the previous year – from 67.4 percent in 2011 to 69.7 percent in 2012.

Saturday, May 11, 2013  Updated with video; With graduation just days away, McClung isn’t the only senior worrying about the future.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013  The nation's high school graduation rate is the highest since 1976, but more than a fifth of students are still failing to get their diploma in four years, reveals an Education Department study.

Thursday, December 06, 2012  Updated with video; Westover High School 9th grade students are graduating fours years before completing high school.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012  Updated with video; Being in high school can be challenging academically -- then you throw in sports, student organizations, part time jobs and planning your future and it can be overwhelming.

Monday, May 21, 2012  Albany High School held their second annual ninth grade graduation this afternoon in an attempt to continue decreasing the dropout rate.

Saturday, May 19, 2012  Chelsea Cox and Byron Fedrick are just two of the many students with high hopes after today as they are joined by their classmates at Monroe High School and three other schools for their high school graduation.

Friday, April 13, 2012  Updated with video; Friday, Lee County High School Seniors got a chance to motivate middle school students to finish school in a very creative way.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012  Updated with video; The Georgia Department of Education has released new graduation rate data for the state; new calculation method produces lower rates.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012  Updated with video; In our Facebook story of the day, you wanted to know what the local schools systems are doing to curb the high school dropout rate.

Monday, March 19, 2012  Aggressive efforts to prevent students from dropping out contributed to a modest 3.5 percentage point increase nationally in the high school graduation rate from 2001 to 2009, according to research presented Monday at the Grad Nation summit in Washington.

Thursday, October 27, 2011  Updated with video; The Dougherty County School Board postpones their decision on a company for their "Drop Back In Academy" to view other choices and bids

Thursday, April 14, 2011  The State Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to eliminate the requirement for the State High School Graduation Test.

Friday, June 11, 2010  Only 52 percent of first time takers of the Georgia High School Graduation test passed in the Dougherty County School System, down 20 percent from last year.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010  Dougherty County Public School test administrators gathered for training for the upcoming Georgia high school graduation test.