WS/FCS Director of Marketing and Communications Theo Helm credits Forsyth students, parents and community partners working together for the rising graduation numbers. The community partnership initiatives include The United Way's Graduating Our Future. That program provides summer transition classes, intensive before-and-after school tutoring, family counseling, mentoring, and attendance tracking.

Helm says the Graduating Our Future pilot program at Parkland High School helped raise that school's graduation rate by nearly 10 points from last year. Other programs include the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce's Senior Academy program that helps to keep seniors in school, and the Chamber's Corporate Volunteers program which pairs volunteers with kindergarten students in order to ensure that they're reading at grade level.

Overall, the district's 2011 graduation rate was 78.8 percent, up from 73.6 in 2010. The biggest leaps in graduation came at the three schools of the Atkins complex with a gain of 17 percentage points, and Parkland High School with a 9.4 percent rise. Reynolds High increased by 8.4 points and East Forsyth High's graduation rate rose by nearly 7 points.