Florida's high school graduation rate increases for 2015-16 school year

Palm Beach County sweeps South Florida in graduation rates

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida's high school graduation rate increased by 2.8 percentage points over the last year, the Florida Department of Education announced Friday.

The graduation rate significantly increased during the past 11 years, rising from 59.2 percent in the 2003-04 school year to 80.7 percent in the 2015-16 school year.

Education officials said the state's high school graduation rates vary by race and ethnicity; however, all groups increased in graduation rates since the 2011-12 school year.

Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties all improved their graduation rates over the past year.

Broward County saw a rise from 76.6 percent in the 2014-15 school year to 78.7 percent in the 2015-16 school year.

Miami-Dade County saw a rise from 78.1 percent in 2014-15 to 80.4 percent in 2015-16.

"How did we do this? (By) providing the right level of academic support (and) expanding the school day from seven to eight periods a day in many of these high schools," Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.

Monroe County's graduation rate increased from 76.9 percent in 2014-15 to 77.9 percent last year.

Finally, Palm Beach County's graduation rate increased from 79.4 percent in 2014-15 to 82.3 percent in 2015-16, making Palm Beach County the South Florida school district with the highest graduation rate.

Click here for more information about graduation rates in South Florida and the rest of the state.


About the Author:

Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.