MAYOR DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES RECORD HIGH GRADUATION RATE

Graduation Rate Rises to 74.3 Percent and Dropout Rate Falls to 7.8 Percent

  Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that New York City’s 2017 four-year high school graduation rate is the highest on record – 74.3 percent. The dropout rate is now at its lowest ever – 7.8 percent. The graduation rate rose and the dropout rate fell in every borough and among every ethnicity. 

“New York City is showing that when we invest in our students, they rise to the challenge and do better and better. Our kids are graduating high school and going to college at record rates, while dropping out less than ever before. If we are going to make New York City the fairest big city in America, it starts with giving our kids the education they deserve, and we are executing this vision every day,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

“Our graduation and dropout rates continue to improve steadily and show that we’re on the right track,” said Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. “This is a day to recognize the incredible impact our educators have on our children’s lives, and to celebrate their dedication to their craft. We need to keep improving, redoubling our commitment to our Equity and Excellence for All agenda to ensure that every child gets a high-quality education.”

The rates below are the graduation and dropout percentages among the cohort of all students who entered 9^th grade in the fall of 2013. All percentage point changes are comparisons to the previous year.

·       The graduation rate rose to 74.3 percent, a 1.2 point increase.

·       The dropout rate fell to 7.8 percent, a 0.6 point decrease.

Graduation rates improved across all ethnicities:

·       Black students’ graduation rate increased to 70.0 percent, a 1.3 point gain.

·       Hispanic students’ graduation rate increased to 68.3 percent, a 1.0 point gain.

·       Asian students’ graduation rate increased to 87.5 percent, a 1.8 point gain.

·       White students’ graduation rate increased to 83.2 percent, a 0.9 point gain.

Dropout rates fell across all ethnicities:

·       Black students’ dropout rate fell to 7.9 percent, a 0.9 point decrease.

·       Hispanic students’ dropout rate fell to 10.7 percent, a 0.6 point decrease.

·       Asian students’ dropout rate fell to 4.0 percent, a 0.6 point decrease.

·       White students’ dropout rate fell to 4.4 percent, a 0.3 point decrease.

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

	Graduation
	2017 # Cohort	% 2017 Grad	% 2016 Grad	Pt. Diff
Bronx	13730	66.3	64.9	1.4
Brooklyn	20096	74.4	72.8	1.6
Queens	19417	77.8	76.1	1.7
Manhattan	15280	74.9	74.7	0.1
Staten Island	4631	80.3	79.5	0.8

	Dropout
	2017 # Cohort	% 2017 Dropout	% 2016 Dropout	Pt. Diff
Bronx	13730	11.7	12.7	-1
Brooklyn	20096	7.4	7.6	-0.2
Queens	19417	6.4	7.7	-1.3
Manhattan	15280	7.3	7.4	-0.1
Staten Island	4631	6	6.4	-0.4

Graduation rates also increased at the City’s 28 Renewal high schools. The graduation rate increased to 65.7 percent, a 5.7 point increase. The dropout rate was 16.4 percent, a 2.2 point decrease. 

The Class of 2016 4-year graduation rate reflects an updated rate of 73.0 percent instead of 72.6 percent as previously reported due to a data revision by the New York State Education Department.

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

The highest-ever postsecondary enrollment rate – 57 percent of the Class of 2016. The highest-ever number of New York City students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams in 2017, with a 9.9 percent jump in students taking at least one AP and 7.5 percent jump in students passing at least one AP over the previous year. The highest-ever college readiness rate – 47 percent of all students, and 64 percent of graduates, in the Class of 2017 graduated high school on time and met CUNY’s standards for college readiness in English and math. The highest-ever number of high school juniors taking the SAT – 61,800 students. All juniors are now able to take the SAT free of charge during the school day. Elementary and middle school students also continue to make gains on State English and math exams. City students have now outperformed their New York State peers in English for the second year in a row.  Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña’s Equity and Excellence for All initiatives will continue to build on the progress, ensuring that, by 2026, 80 percent of students graduate high school on time and two-thirds of graduates are college-ready. EDITOR'S NOTE: While we applaud Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Farina, we have to ask however why are Bronx schools performance at the lowest levels of the five boroughs.  There is a marked eight percent gap between the gradation of students in Bronx high schools, and students in citywide schools. There is also a marked just under four percent in the dropout rate in Bronx high school when compared to citywide numbers, and the Bronx remains the only borough in the City of New York with a double digit dropout rate.