MAYOR DE BLASIO, CHANCELLOR FARIÑA ANNOUNCE HIGHEST-EVER GRADUATION RATE

Graduation rate rises to 72.6 percent and dropout rate hits low of 8.5 percent with largest improvements for Hispanic and Black students

   Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Fariña today announced that New York City’s four-year high school graduation rate hit a historic high in 2016 – 72.6 percent. The dropout rate fell to the lowest ever – 8.5 percent. The improvements in both graduation and dropout rates were highest for Hispanic and Black students. Every single borough saw its graduation rate increase and dropout rate decrease – with the highest increase in graduation rate in the Bronx.

Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña’s Equity and Excellence for All agenda will build on this progress, ensuring that by 2026, 80 percent of students graduate high school on time and two-thirds of graduates are college ready.  Equity and Excellence for All is building a path from pre-K to college and careers for every child in every neighborhood in New York City.

“Our public schools are unquestionably the strongest they’ve ever been – we’re graduating more students than ever before, and we are on track to reach our Equity and Excellence for All goal of 80 percent of students graduating on time,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “From Day 1, we’ve believed in the promise of our public schools as the ladder to success for all New Yorkers, and we are raising the bar at every school in every zip code.” 

“Our record-high graduation and the record-low dropout rates are a testament to the hard work of our students, their families, and our educators,” said Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. “Our focus has always been on the work going on in every classroom, and that’s where it’s going to stay. While this is a day to celebrate progress, we’re working harder than ever to improve instruction and provide equity and excellence for all students.”

The rates below are the graduation and dropout percentages among the cohort of all students who entered 9th grade in the fall of 2012. All percentage point changes are comparisons to the previous year.

·         The graduation rate rose to 72.6 percent, a 2.1 point gain

·         The dropout rate fell to 8.5 percent, a 0.5 point decrease

Graduation rates improved across all ethnicities, with Hispanic and Black students posting the highest gains:

·         Hispanic students’ graduation rate increased to 66.9 percent, a 2.9 point gain

·         Black students’ graduation rate increased to 68.1 percent, a 2.6 point gain

·         Asian students’ graduation rate increased to 85.6 percent, a 0.6 point gain

·         White students’ graduation rate increased to 82.1 percent, a 0.1 point gain

Dropout rates fell or remained the same across all ethnicities:

·         Hispanic students’ dropout rate fell to 11.2 percent, a 0.7 point decrease

·         Black students’ dropout rate fell to 8.8 percent, a 0.6 point decrease

·         Asian students’ dropout rate fell to 4.6 percent, the same as last year

·         White students’ dropout rate fell to 4.8 percent, a 0.4 point decrease

Graduation rates increased and dropout rates fell in every borough. The largest improvement in graduation rates was in the Bronx:

	Graduation				Dropout
	2016 # Cohort	% 2016 Grad	% 2015 Grad	Pt. Diff	2016 # Cohort	% 2016 Dropout	% 2015 Dropout	Pt. Diff
Bronx	13,838	64.8	61.8	3.0	13,838	12.7	13.1	-0.4
Brooklyn	20,823	72.2	70.8	1.4	20,823	7.6	8.3	-0.7
Queens	19,398	75.5	73.3	2.2	19,398	7.7	7.9	-0.2
Manhattan	15,569	74.6	72.5	2.2	15,569	7.4	7.7	-0.4
Staten Island	4,544	79.3	77.4	1.9	4,544	6.4	7.5	-1.2

Graduation rates also increased at the City’s 31 Renewal high schools. The graduation rate increased to 59.3 percent, a 4.8 percent increase – more than double the citywide increase in graduation rate. The dropout rate was 18.6 percent, a 0.8 point increase.

Earlier this school year, Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña announced:

·         The highest-ever postsecondary enrollment rate – 55 percent of the Class of 2015.

·         The highest-ever number of New York City students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams in 2016 with an 8.4 percent jump in students taking at least one AP and 8.2 percent jump in students passing at least one AP over the previous year.

·         The highest-ever college readiness rate – 37 percent of all students, and 51 percent of graduates, in the Class of 2016 graduated high school on time and met CUNY’s standards for college readiness in English and math.

·         The highest-ever percentage of high school juniors taking the SAT – 52 percent. All juniors will be able to take the SAT free of charge during the school day this school year.

The progress extends to elementary and middle school grades – students made substantial gains on the most recent State English and math exams. For the first time, City students are now outperforming their New York State peers in English. 

Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña’s Equity and Excellence for All initiatives are building a pathway to success in college and careers for all students. Our schools are starting earlier – free, full-day, high-quality pre-K for every four-year-old through Pre-K for All. They are strengthening foundational skills and instruction earlier – Universal Literacy so that every student is reading on grade level by the end of 2nd grade; and Algebra for All to improve elementary- and middle-school math instruction and ensure that all 8th graders have access to algebra. They are offering students more challenging, hands-on, college and career-aligned coursework – Computer Science for All will bring 21st Century computer science instruction to every school, and AP for All will give all high school students access to at least five Advanced Placement courses. Along the way, they are giving students and families additional support through College Access for All, Single Shepherd, and investment in Community Schools.

More information on New York City’s graduation and college readiness and rates can be found at http://schools.nyc.gov/Accountability/data/GraduationDropoutReports/default.htm.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

These figures show how Mayoral Control of the public schools has not worked the past 15 years, and should be replaced with a more accountable local public school system. New York City public school children are doomed not to succeed which been shown during the 15 years of Mayoral Control and the charts above.

Politics comes first, and the children last.

It's time to end Mayoral Control.