FY2015 Federal High School Graduation Rates - Federal High School Graduation Rate 1 - Memo Summary

Oct 15, 2026

Memorandum dated January 5, 2016 from the Palm Beach County School District leadership to School Board members summarizes FY2015 Federal High School Graduation Rates. It reports that the district increased its overall graduation rate from 77.9% (FY2014) to 79.4% (FY2015), with gains for both District operated and charter students, and improved outcomes for Black students. The memo also compares performance against Florida and other large urban districts and references detailed results in multiple tables and an appendix.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Summary of Results

District and state comparisons (FY2011–FY2015)

By student group: Black, Hispanic, White (FY2011–FY2015)

District operated vs. charter: graduation rate trends (FY2012–FY2015)

Graduation rates by high school (District operated high schools)

Contact information for questions

WWW. PALMBEACHSCHOOLS.ORG/DRE/ MEMORANDUM January 5 , 2016 TO: School Board Members FROM: David W. Christiansen, Ed. D. , Deputy Superintendent/Chief of Schools THROUGH: Dr. Robert Avossa, Superintendent SUBJECT: FY2015 FEDERAL HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATES On January 5, 2016, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) released graduation rates for the State of Florida and the School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC) . The Federal High School Graduation Rate 1 includes standard diplomas but excludes special diplomas and GEDs (General Education Diplomas) .2 In FY2015, SDPBC outperformed Florida and six other large urban school districts3 and increased the graduation rate from FY2014 . Summary of Results • From FY2014 to FY2015, the SDPBC o Increased the overall District graduation rate (includes both District operated4 and charter school students) from 77.9% to 79.4% o Increased graduation rates for District operated school students (84.3% to 85 .3%) and charter school students5 (36 .0% to 40 .3%) o Increased the graduation rate for Black students by 4.3 percentage points (64 .8% to 69.1%), and remained similar for Hispanic (76 .3%) and White students (88 .5%) o Increased the graduation rates among a majority of District operated high schools 1 In FY2012, the FDOE accountability system began using the Federal High School Graduation Rate, which is a more rigorous standard than the National Governors Association (NGA) rate used previously. 2 Detailed information about the Federal High School Graduation Rate is provided in Appendix A. 3 Florida school districts exceeding 100,000 students. 4 Includes students who also attended Alternative and DJJ school sites. 5 Both District operated school and charter school students are required to meet the Florida Standard Diploma requirements. • From FY2011 to FY2015, the SDPBC o Increased the District graduation rate by 5.1 percentage points (from 74.3% to 79.4%), which includes both District operated and charter school student o Maintained a higher graduation rate than that of Florida for five consecutive years o Increased the graduation rate for Black students by 7.6 percentage points and increased the rate for Hispanic students by 6.5 percentage points Table 1 reports the graduation rates for the past five years (FY2011 – FY2015) for Florida, the SDPBC, and the other large urban school districts. Tables 2 – 4 show the graduation rates for the past five years (FY2011 – FY2015) for Black, Hispanic, and White students. Table 5 reports the graduation rates for the past four years (FY2012 – FY2015) for SDPBC District operated and charter schools. Tables 6, 7 and 8 report graduation rates for District operated high schools, charter high schools, and alternative high schools, respectively. If you have questions about graduation rates, please contact Mark Howard, Chief of Performance Accountability, at 434-8850. For information regarding SDPBC initiatives to increase graduation, please contact Karen Whetsell, Assistant Superintendent, Division of Curriculum and Learning Support, at 357-1113. For questions regarding specific schools, contact the appropriate area superintendent. RMA/DWC/KO/MH/SRR /RP/BS:wl Attachments c: Academic and Operating Chiefs Area/Assistant Superintendents Academic Directors Principals Table 1. FY2011-FY2015 Federal Graduation Rate for Florida and Large Urban Districts* | | FY2011 | FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Florida | 70.6% | 74.5% | 75.6% | 76.1% | 77.8% | | Palm Beach | 74.3% | 77.0% | 76.3% | 77.9% | 79.4% | | Broward | 71.6% | 76.4% | 75.3% | 74.2% | 76.6% | | Dade | 71.3% | 76.0% | 77.2% | 76.6% | 78.1% | | Duval | 63.3% | 67.7% | 72.1% | 74.0% | 76.6% | | Hillsborough | 69.3% | 72.6% | 74.1% | 73.5% | 76.0% | | Orange | 71.4% | 73.9% | 75.9% | 74.6% | 77.6% | | Pinellas | 65.2% | 72.0% | 71.9% | 76.2% | 78.3% | *Florida school districts exceeding 100,0

FAQs

What time period does the FY2015 graduation rate analysis cover?

The memo focuses on FY2015 results and includes historical comparisons across FY2011–FY2015 (and some charter vs. district-operated data across FY2012–FY2015).

How did SDPBC’s overall graduation rate change from FY2014 to FY2015?

SDPBC increased its overall District graduation rate from 77.9% to 79.4% between FY2014 and FY2015.

How does the memo define the Federal High School Graduation Rate?

It includes standard diplomas but excludes special diplomas and GEDs (General Education Diplomas), and the federal accountability standard is noted as more rigorous than the previous NGA rate.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Quinn Holloway