Graduation Rates Increase In Escambia, Santa Rosa Counties

December 19, 2014

Statewide graduation rates increased to an 11-year high of 76.1 percent, an increase of 0.5 percent over last year and a rise of nearly 17 percentage points since 2003-04, according to data released Thursday by the Florida Department of Education. The graduation rate also improved in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

Escambia County’s graduation rate was up to 66.1 percent, an increase of nearly two percentage points since last year and 8.4 percentage points since 2010-11.  And Santa Rosa saw an increase in their graduation rate to 82.8 percent, a 3.9 percentage point improvement over last year and five percentage points since 2010-11,

The graduation rates at high schools in Escambia County are as follows:

  • Escambia — 60%
  • Pensacola — 62%
  • Tate — 77%
  • Pine Forest — 64%
  • Washington — 72 %
  • Northview — 70%
  • West Florida  — 95%

The graduation rates at high schools in Santa Rosa County are as follows:

  • Central — 70%
  • Gulf Breeze — 94%
  • Jay — 91%
  • Milton — 89%
  • Pace — 91%
  • Navarre — 96%

The graduation rate measures the percentage of students who graduate within four years of their first enrollment in ninth grade. The rate is calculated for an adjusted cohort of students – a group of students on the same schedule to graduate – taking into account those who enter or exit the group.

Florida’s graduation rate only considers standard diploma recipients as graduates in the calculation. Students who earn a special diploma, a GED-based diploma, a certificate of completion, or have been retained and are still in school after four years are counted as non-completers in the calculation.

Pictured top: The Tate High School Class of 2014 graduated last June at the Pensacola Civic Center. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

3 Responses to “Graduation Rates Increase In Escambia, Santa Rosa Counties”

  1. No Excuses on December 19th, 2014 8:06 am

    @ Me

    There are many reasons why a student may not finish high school, but it is important to note that there are alternative options to getting a high school credential. My middle daughter is one of these – she did not finish school due to circumstances beyond her control, but she was old enough to make some choices of her own and finished her education, at the age of 17, by taking the GED and passing it. I am proud to say she is in her second year at PSC and doing very well. By NOT finishing high school, she actually got a one year head start on her college education.

    Other students may lack the maturity or interest to finish. I’d be more curious to track what happened to those students and to know if they returned to take GED or adult high school classes and finished their educations. Another point is that post high school education is not for all people, just as college is not for all people. Some folks go directly to work upon graduation from high school. Others may go to college or technical school later in life, and that’s OK too.

  2. Southerner on December 19th, 2014 6:50 am

    The profitable knowledge that I gained in the time I spent in public high schools was very little. I did my time and got out.

  3. Me on December 19th, 2014 1:16 am

    I want to know:
    Among those who do not finish out the normal 4 years of high school, how many immediately go on to get their GED?
    What is the average grade of completion in high school? 9th? 10th? 11th?
    Furthermore, are they going straight on to a technical school or college?
    WHY are the students NOT going through the end of 12th to get that standard diploma?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News