Pinellas County Schools graduation rate climbs to highest in history

Dec. 19, 2018

Pinellas County Schools 2017-18 high school graduation rate rose 3.1 percentage points to 86 percent, representing the highest graduation rate in district history. The Florida Department of Education released 2017-18 graduation rates earlier today.

The graduation rate among black students increased a landmark 6.9 percentage points to 76.2 percent.  The efforts of the district’s comprehensive Bridging the Gap plan are significant and represent a focused commitment to accelerate the black graduation rate, resulting in a 19.8 percentage point increase since 2012-13. In the past year, Pinellas further reduced the gap between black and non-black students by 4.6 percentage points, which outpaced other subgroups.

Pinellas County Schools has eliminated the graduation gap between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students. In the past year, the graduation rate among Hispanic students rose 3.7 percentage points to 85 percent, which matches the state. Since 2012-13, the Pinellas graduation rate for Hispanic students has increased 22.4 percentage points.

“I am extremely proud of the personalized approach to graduation provided to each and every student across our district,” said Michael A. Grego, Ed.D., Pinellas County Schools Superintendent. “Our tremendous outcomes represent the commitment and targeted implementation of strategies for every student across every school in the district from prekindergarten through graduation. The commitment of our Board and staff to 100% student success is exemplified through our Bridging the Gap plan and the impact of our efforts is tangible in our graduation rate.”

Additional 2017-18 highlights include:

• In the last six years, Pinellas outpaced the state in increasing the graduation rate for black students, Hispanic students, Exceptional Student Education students and English Learners.
• The graduation rate for Exceptional Student Education students increased by 5.4 percentage points to 72.5%.
• English Learner students increased by 14.7 percentage points to 78.4%.
• Seven of the district’s 16 traditional high schools increased their graduation rate by at least five percentage points including Clearwater, Countryside, Dixie Hollins, Dunedin, Gibbs, Lakewood and Largo high schools.
   

Pinellas has the third highest graduation rate among the state’s eight largest school districts. The district’s graduation rate rose 14.1 percentage points since 2012-13.

Fourteen of the district’s 16 traditional high schools increased their graduation rates: