Before Winter Break, we received some great news that our graduation rate rose 4.6 percentage points to 71.2 percent. Shortly after that, high school grades came in and several of our high schools made noticeable improvement.
The gains in our graduation rate and increased high school grades are proof that Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) is on its way to becoming the best large urban district in the country. This is especially noteworthy given that DCPS has the highest graduation requirements in the state.
Our graduation rate has increased 13.8 percentage points over the last five years.
The schools with the largest increase in graduation rates are
Forrest High School, which saw an increase of 18.7 percentage points from the prior year,
Frank H. Peterson Academies of Technology, which saw an increase of 11.2 percentage points and
Ed White High School, which saw an increase of 10.9 percentage points. Additionally,
Stanton College Preparatory was recognized for having 99% of their students graduate in 2011.
Eight of our high schools' grades increased in 2011. Most notably
Frank H. Peterson Academies of Technology rose three letter grades, from "D" to "A,"
Terry Parker and
Robert E. Lee high schools earned their first "B" grades,
A. Philip Randolph Academy rose two letter grades to a "C" and
Jean Ribault High School earned its first "C" grade.
Overall, 18 of 21 high schools scored A, B or C grades (84%). Schools with "A" grades were
Frank H. Peterson Academies of Technology,
Darnell-Cookman Middle-High School,
Paxon School for Advanced Studies and
Stanton College Preparatory School. Schools with "B" grades were
Douglas Anderson School of the Arts,
Terry Parker,
Mandarin,
Fletcher,
Sandalwood and
Robert E. Lee high schools.
In addition, decreasing the number of lower performing schools (D or F) from 11 to three shows dramatic positive improvement.
Now that all school grades have been released for elementary through high school, 85% of DCPS have made excellent, good or satisfactory grades.
I'm extremely proud of the tremendous effort that our administrators, teachers, support staff, students and parents have put forth. In 2012, we will continue to assess the work being done in our schools to ensure that all of our students are receiving a high quality education as we continue to strive for academic excellence.
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Ed
Pratt-Dannals
Superintendent |
