Quantcast wmbb.com - Florida Graduation Rates

--- Advertisement ---

Florida Graduation Rates
11/19/08 - 04:02 PM
Associated Press
 RSS Feed
click for larger image Tallahassee, Fla:

It appears more high school students in Florida are getting their diplomas.

New figures from the state Department of Education indicate more students are graduating from high school and fewer are dropping out.

The state’s graduation rate increased to 75 (75.4) percent this year, a three percentage point jump from the previous school year.  Meanwhile, the dropout rate declined to less than 3 (2.6) percent.

Minority students accounted for some of the largest growth in the graduation rate.

The graduation rate for African-American students increased by 3.8 percent, while the number of graduating Hispanic students jumped 3.1 percent.

White students also showed sizable growth, with a 2.6 point increase in their rate compared to 2006-07.

Florida’s method of tabulating its high school graduation rate tracks individual students rather than using statistical formulas. That calculation has resulted in higher graduation rates than those seen in national studies.

The LeRoy Collins Institute, a think tank at Florida State University, sponsored a study earlier this year that was somewhat critical of the state’s method of calculating graduation rates. The report concluded Florida is too secretive about its method and the data it uses.

The Department of Education argues its method for calculating graduation rate provides a more accurate picture of the number of students who graduate high school. The D.O.E. says it calculation is based on data that follows every single student from ninth grade to graduation.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

This entry has been viewed 414 times.

User Comments
WMBB.com requires that you be a registered site member to post comments and content.
Why Register?
First, we are not being sneaky and gathering your email or other information to sell to telemarketers or e-mail spam companies.

Registration on this site is required simply to allow us to keep people who would post discriminatory, threatening and harassing messages and comments from doing it again.

By having user registration, we hope to provide you with a better user experience. Please view WMBB.com's full Terms & Conditions