36 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • FEBRUARY 2021
EDUCATION
HIGH SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTS NYS GRAD RATES RISE BY ALEJANDRA
O›CONNELL-DOMENECH
High school graduation rates in New
York State rose slightly last year, new
data released on Jan. 14 by the State
Education Department shows.
The graduation rate for students who
started the 9th grade at a public school
in 2016 was 84.8 percent in August of
2020, a 1.4 percent percentage point
increase from the prior year’s graduation
rate of 83.4 percent. Last year’s
graduation rate was also 8 percent
higher than the state public high school
graduation rate from a decade ago–76.8
percent–state data shows.
The increase comes after an unprecedented
school year with multiple
interruptions caused by the novel coronavirus
pandemic. In March of 2020,
teachers across the state had to suddenly
become remote instructors and
students have had to grapple with the
challenges caused by remote learning
and multiple school reopenings and
closures because of the virus.
“Our educators, school staff and families
have come together to support our
students throughout this pandemic,”
said Betty A. Rosa, Interim Commissioner
of Education and President of the University
of the State of New York. “The
shift to remote learning highlighted a
digital divide across the state that must
be addressed to give all students a level
playing field and we remain focused on
educational equity for all students.”
Low- and average-need school districts
reported the highest graduation rates at
95.3 and 90.4 percent respectively while
the graduation rate continues to remain
the lowest in the state’s largest cities.
There are still sizable gaps in graduation
rates between students of color
and their white counterparts. But Black
and Hispanic students experienced the
greatest increase in graduation rates
last year while rates for white public
school students and Asian/Pacific
Islander students that began the 9th
grade in 2016 remained mostly the same
as the year prior at 90.7 percent and 91.1
percent respectively. Last year was the
first time graduation rates for students
identifying as Asian or Pacific Islander
surpassed that of white students.
The graduation rate for Black students
increased by 2.2 percentage points last
year, jumping from 75.3 percent for
students who entered high school in
2015 to 78.1 percent for those who started
the 9th grade a year later. Hispanic
and Latino students also followed an
almost identical increase, with the state
data showing a graduation rate of 76.8
percent for students in the 2016 cohort
of 9th grade students, a 2.3 percentage
point increase from the 2015 cohort.
The gap between graduation rates for
Black and Latino and white students
across New York has narrowed by 9
percentage points, according to state
data. American Indian/Alaskan Native
students improved their graduation
rate by 2.2 percentage points from last
year to this year.
This story first appeared in
amNewYork.
Graduation rates for Black students
are up double the state
increase. (Getty Images)
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