UPDATE:
(Monday, June 11)
At
a press conference earlier today, Rochester schools Superintendent
Bolgen Vargas did not make excuses for the district’s anemic 2011
graduation rate. The State Education Department has released data
showing that the rate was 45.5 percent for those students who entered
ninth grade in September 2007 and graduated in June 2011. That’s a
drop from 46.1 percent in 2010.
If
you count students who graduated in August instead of June, the rate
climbs to 49 percent. But either way, Vargas said, the district needs
to improve; none of the Big Five districts are doing well.
Vargas
pointed to four city high schools: School of the Arts, School
Without Walls, Wilson Commencement, and Northeast College Prep
as models that the district is trying to replicate. The
low-performing Dr. Freddie Thomas, Jefferson, Franklin International
Finance, and Franklin Bioscience high schools will close. The
district is attempting to turn around East, Charlotte, and Monroe ��”
schools with grad rates at or below 43 percent.
Though
it’s too soon to tell, the district is expecting better graduation
rates from its newer high schools: Leadership Academy for Young Men,
Integrated Arts and Technology, Vanguard, Rochester STEM, Robert
Brown Construction and Design, and Rochester Early College, Vargas
said.
And
Vargas took the opportunity to lower expectations for 2012’s
graduation rates. Students who entered ninth grade in 2008 will for
the first time need to pass five Regents exams with a score of 65
percent or better in order get a Regents diploma.
New
York now offers local diplomas only to students with special needs.
Achieving
higher grad rates will require students to sharply improve attendance
and reading abilities, especially at the lower grade levels, Vargas
said. The district is placing more emphasis on early intervention and
offering extended instruction hours in the new All City High School
and Monroe.
“Extended
learning [hours] is the most important element we can put in place in
our schools,” Vargas said.
Though
the SED’s report is disappointing, Vargas said that students across
the state are adjusting to an increase in standards.
“Sometimes
we pay too much attention to the percentage and the number of years
it takes to graduate, whether it’s four or five,” he said.
ORIGINAL
STORY:
Rochester’s
graduation rate for 2011 dipped to 45.5 percent for students who
started 9th grade in 2007.
The
New York State Education Department released graduation rates for the
Big Five school districts earlier today. Rochester’s rate dropped
from 46.1 percent for the 2006 cohort.
The
grad rate rises to 49 percent if you include students from the cohort
who took longer than four years to graduate.
City
schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas will be making an announcement
at 3:15 p.m. today about 2011 graduation rates at School Without
Walls.
Buffalo’s
grad rate increased to 54 percent. The graduation rate statewide was
74 percent for 2011. Rochester’s rate is the lowest of the Big Five
school districts.
This article appears in Summer Guide 2012.
