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Duval County graduation rate going up

12/12/2011

Today, we received some very encouraging news: Duval County's high school graduation rate is going up!

The Jacksonville Public Education Fund commends Duval County Public Schools for further significant improvements in the high school graduation rate. 

Duval County's graduation rate rose to 71.2 percent, an increase of 4.6 percentage points over last year and 11.4 percent from five years ago. The district's one-year improvement was 3.5 percent greater than the statewide average, and was the 11th largest increase out of about 70 counties in the state. Results were announced today by Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson.

"These strong, consistent results represent continued progress toward making sure all students graduate from high school ready for college and the workforce," said JPEF President Trey Csar. "Thanks to increased community focus and attention on this important issue and the district's diligent work to improve instruction and supports for struggling students, numerous factors are working together to create success for Duval County students."

PEF's mission is to ensure all students graduate from public high school college and career-ready. Through this work, the organization has been deeply involved in efforts to assist the district in improving its graduation rate, including:

• For the past two years, JPEF has coordinated Learning to Finish, a community collaborative that works to improve the graduation rate through an Early Warning and Response System and a system of Multiple Pathways to Graduation. In addition to JPEF, the Community Foundation in Jacksonville, United Way of Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Children's Commission and DCPS all serve as lead partners in this work.
• This year, JPEF launched ONE in THREE, a exhibit of student photographs and stories to highlight the role the community must play in solving the dropout crisis. Since the show opened at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, more than 16,000 citizens have seen the exhibit.

District-wide, the average graduation rate for African American students was 63.4 percent, up from last year's 59.7 percent.

Within the district, 18 schools made improvements in their graduation rate from last year, 4 remained the same, and 7 had decreases. Five of the six Intervene high schools made improvements, including significant leaps at Nathan B. Forrest and Edward H. White high schools. Changes at all the Intervene high schools were as follows: