Daytona Beach, FL - It's still not near the state average, but Volusia County Schools is making progress with getting diplomas in the hands of students.
A new Florida Department of Education report shows
the district graduated 78.7% of its seniors last academic year (2017-18), a jump of over 2% and the highest mark in the county's history.
Flagler County Schools also set a record high for graduation rate, coming in at 88%.
The graduation rate average for Florida's 67 counties is 86.1%.
Dr. Amy Hall - the Coordinator of Student & Government Relations for Volusia County Schools - says the district's rate was actually almost 83% when you take out charter schools and focus only on the county's 10 public high schools.
"The strong focus on underrepresented populations paid off for the district," Hall added. "The graduation rate of our black students increased a little over 8% from 63.9% to 72%, the highest graduation rate for this population in the last five years."
Students with disabilities did even better, with the graduation rate up to 72.3% last academic year compared to 62.6% the year before, per Hall.
"In addition, our Hispanic population also saw an increase in graduation rates from 72.1% to 73.4%," Hall noted. " In regards to gender, our male students’ graduation rate increased by 3.4% from 71.9% to 75.3%."
ELL (English Language Learner) students’ and those considered "at-risk" also saw an increase in graduation rates by approximately 5% in Volusia, according to the district.
Flagler also saw similar graduation rate growth with ELL (4.4%) and at-risk (12.9%) students, with the largest being students with disabilities (20.1%) and African-Americans (13.6%).
FCS Superintendent James Tager called the numbers a "testament" to the district's efforts to improve the rate.
"I believe this is just the beginning," Tager added. "We’re taking steps to ensure this is a continuing trend in Flagler Schools. We’ve been challenged by our School Board members to graduate 100% of our students and that should be every school district’s goal."
It's the first time in four years Flagler's rate was above the state average.
Daytona Beach, FL - It's still not near the state average, but Volusia County Schools is making progress with getting diplomas in the hands of students.
A new Florida Department of Education report shows the district graduated 78.7% of its seniors last academic year (2017-18), a jump of over 2% and the highest mark in the county's history.
Flagler County Schools also set a record high for graduation rate, coming in at 88%.
The graduation rate average for Florida's 67 counties is 86.1%.
