More than 75 percent of the students who graduated from Carrollton High School over an eight-year period went on to attend college.

From 2000 to 2007, 77.5 percent of Carrollton graduates have attended college after graduation, beating the state average of 69.4 percent, according to a report released Thursday by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.

That percentage is higher than the school’s underlying predictors – graduation rate and percentage of students receiving free and reduced-cost lunches – would suggest. Carrollton is listed in the report as one of just 23 systems in the state that outperformed those numbers.

In general, according to the report, the higher the graduation rate a school has, the higher number of students who continue on to college. Conversely, the higher the percentage of students who receive free or reduced lunches, the lower the percentage of students who go on to college.

In 2008, Carrollton High School had a high school graduation rate of 82.5 percent and 44 percent of students received free and reduced lunches. Those statistics would indicate that the school would see a continuing education rate of at least 10 percentage points lower than its 73.48 percent.

Dr. Kent Edwards, assistant superintendent of Carrollton City Schools and former principal of the high school, said the difference is an ongoing effort in the school system to fully prepare students for college.

“It’s been taking place a number of years throughout our system through the elementary, middle and junior high of providing a standard curriculum for all students and a high level of expectation,” he said. “So, we then established that we were going to be a post-secondary kind of high school, a college-prep high school.”

The school has done a number of things to ensure students are college-ready when they graduate. First, the school puts a strong emphasis on graduation, because, after all, you’re not eligible for post-secondary enrollment if you don’t graduate, Edwards said. It focuses on a core curriculum that prepares students for a four-year university. Over the past few years, the school has increased the number of advanced-placement courses it offers.

The vocational-technical courses it offers also lead to post-secondary enrollment. The school offers electives in health care science, computer-assisted drafting and media broadcast, areas that lead to careers requiring higher education rather than sending a student right into the workplace after high school.

The school also performs annual counseling with students to ensure students are graduating with the courses they need to go on to the college or university of their choice.

“We do extensive four-year planning,” Edwards said. “We have what’s called an advisement where each year we bring that parent and that child in and we adjust it based on their success in their coursework and their interests.”

Students’ goals can change over their high school years as they discover new passions and lose interest in others. Reviewing their records and discussing their post-high school plans each year keeps them on track to accomplish their dreams.

Because the school is on a block schedule, students can take eight classes a year, allowing them a little more flexibility in electives as their interests change.

The school also helps students search for and apply for scholarships for college, and set an all-time high for scholarship dollars offered in 2007 and 2008, Edwards said.

In 2006, the school’s students were offered $1,402,091 in scholarships but in 2007 that jumped up to $2,995,318 and in 2008 it was $2,791,208. That can make pursuing a college education much more affordable. However, the bottom line is the faculty, staff and the students at the school, Edwards said.

“We have good people teaching good kids,” Edwards said.

Eric Wearne, deputy director of GOSA, said the report doesn’t look at the success of those students in college, just where they are going after high school. Reports that investigate student success in college will be released later.