WARSAW — The graduation rates, or the percentage of high schools who end up in a cap and gown, were relegated to letter grads as seen on report cards, most area high schools would end up on the honor roll.

On Wednesday, Jan. 2, the Indiana Department of Education published school statistics for 2018, which included the graduation rates for all public schools in the state. Locally, Triton Jr.-Sr. High School, Manchester Jr.-Sr. High School and Tippecanoe Valley High School all received high marks with waiver graduation rates of 98.51 percent, 95.97 percent and 95.92 percent respectively. Warsaw Community High School and Wawasee High School also ranked high with waiver graduation rates of 92.31 percent and 92.23 percent respectively.

“We are proud of the hard work and successful graduation rate our students have demonstrated at Tippecanoe Valley High School,” said Superintendent Blaine Conley. “The faculty and staff, pre-K through 12th grade will continue to focus on the mission of TVSC:   Student success through the development of character, literacy and leadership.”

At Tippecanoe Valley, 141 of 147 students turned their tassels on graduation day, while Warsaw graduated 480 out of 520 students. Whitko Community Schools, with a waiver graduation rate of 83.93, graduated 94 out of 112 students.

For non-waiver graduation rates, each school experienced a drop in percentage, with Warsaw graduating 84.23 percent, TVSC graduating 82.76 percent and Whitko graduating 78.40 percent. Other non-waiver rates included Wawasee’s 84.47 percent, Triton’s 97.01 percent and Manchester’s 91.13 percent. Whitko’s non-waiver rate was 79.46 percent.

“In the past, Whitko Community Schools has had outstanding graduation rates,” said Whitko Superintendent Dr. Brandon Penrod. “This year, we slipped a little and, while we realize our graduation rate is lower than we would like, we have identified the reasons for this decrease and look forward to continuing to work hard to increase our rate, which we are on track to do for 2019.”

Most area schools graduated students at a rate higher than state norms. The state average waiver graduation rate last year was 88.1 percent, while the non-waiver average was 80.78 percent.