OXFORD — Oxford Hills School District officials told the Board of Directors on Monday that progress is being made in improving the graduation rate.

Assistant Superintendent Patrick Hartnett said fewer students are dropping out of school in the freshmen, sophomore and junior years but more work needs to be done.

Last summer, the Maine Department of Education released the 2008-2009 graduation rates, which were calculated on a new federal method. It showed a 69.2 percent rate for Oxford Hills High School.

Hartnett said the new method only counts students who graduate in four years or less and is only for all students who entered ninth grade at the same time.

The old formula was based on all students who graduated in a particular year regardless of when they started high school, according to information from the Department of Education.

The purpose of the federal requirement is to use the same method in all states and to provide more consistency in reporting and comparisons between states, according to the Department of Education.

Hartnett said school officials are working on recommendations from a 12-member dropout committee to improve graduation rates. They include learning better methods to work with at-risk youths, establishing an adult mentoring program and a community council of groups to help support the needs of potential dropout students.

“There are encouraging trends,” he said of the work already under way.

Last month, officials met with at-risk students and parents and had what he called “a very frank discussion.” Information from that discussion will be presented to the dropout committee in January and be included in its final recommendations, which are expected in the spring.

School officials are also looking at earlier intervention, perhaps setting up a middle school alternative program, utilizing off-site programming and connecting with community sources as ways to increase graduation rates.

“The numbers are a little shaky, but the bottom line is we need to do better,” Oxford Hills High School Principal Ted Moccia said.

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