Duval's graduation rate goes up, outpacing state and other districts
12/11/2013
Today we received some great news about Duval County Public Schools' graduation rate. Under the relatively new federal calculation, Duval County's 4-year graduation rate is up to 72.1 percent, up from 67.7 percent just last year!
The rates were released today by the Florida Department of Education, which showed that Duval's 4.4 percentage point gain is huge - four times the state's overall rate of improvement, and the fastest improvement of any of the state's 7 largest districts.The gains were especially exciting in subgroups of students for whom graduation rates have typically been lower:
-- from 62.3% to 65.9% (+3.6 pts) for African-American students;
-- from 43.6% to 47.59% (+3.99 pts) for at-risk students;
-- from 54.4%to 60.76% (+6.36 pts) for low-income students (determined by eligibility for free and reduced price lunch).
The district reported that it was the largest graduation rate increase for African-American students seen among the "Big 7" largest districts (which are Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Orange and Duval).
About two-thirds of district high schools made positive gains. Some of the top increases were at the following schools:
-- Robert E. Lee, 71.54% (+12.8 pts from 2012)
-- Ed White, 67.41% (+10.54 pts from 2012)
-- Frank H. Peterson Academies, 90.73% (+10.24 pts from 2012)
-- Wolfson, 73.13% (+9.57 pts from 2012)
-- First Coast 78.39% (+8.89 pts from 2012)
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