Press Release Details
San Francisco’s graduation rate rises to 86.5% Link to this section
April 11, 2017 (San Francisco) – The California Department of Education (CDE) has released its 2015-16 Cohort Outcome Data, which includes graduation rates as well as a-g course completion rates. San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) rates continue to improve and exceed statewide rates by nearly four percentage points.
SFUSD’S cohort graduation rates
SFUSD has a higher graduation rate than the state average for students who started high school in 2011 and graduated in 2015 (86.5 percent compared to the state rate of 82.7 percent).
This year’s cohort data represents a 1.6 percentage point increase since last year and a 9.3 percentage point increase since 2009-10.
"We’re happy to join the entire State of California in celebrating the fact that more of our youth are graduating from high school than ever before while completing more college preparatory coursework,” said Interim Superintendent Myong Leigh. “We’re especially heartened to see a positive seven-year trend for our most historically underserved students. While all student groups have made gains, the rates for African American, Latino and Pacific Islander students over the past seven years have increased at a greater rate than that of other groups, thereby narrowing the achievement gap.”
Using early warning indicators to identify students in need of extra support
SFUSD created a system in 2012-13 to identify students who were not on track to graduate and provide them with additional academic and social-emotional support. Schools have been tracking and supporting student progress toward graduation more systematically than before the off-track/on-track system was instituted.
SFUSD’S subgroup cohort graduation rates
The graduation rate increased from last year to this year for Latino, Filipino and Asian students and dropped less than 1 percentage point for Pacific Islander, African American and White students. SFUSD foster youths’ graduation rate declined by 8.5 percentage points.
| Subgroup | 2015-16 Cohort Graduation Rate | 2014-15 Cohort Graduation Rate | 2014-15 to 2015-16 Cohort Graduation Rate | 2009-10 to 2015-16 Cohort Graduation Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latino | 74.9% | 72.7% | 2.2% | 15.4% |
| African American | 71.1% | 71.2% | -0.1% | 14.2% |
| Filipino | 91.2% | 90.1% | 1.1% | 14.9% |
| Asian | 94.7% | 92.0% | 2.7% | 6.1% |
| White | 83.8% | 84.7% | -0.9% | 5.5% |
| Pacific Islander | 87.3% | 88.2% | -0.9% | 21.9% |
| Program Subgroup | 2015-16 Cohort Graduation Rate | 2014-15 Cohort Graduation Rate | 2013-14 to 2014-15 Cohort Graduation Rate | 2009-10 to 2014-15 Cohort Graduation Rate |
| English Learners | 74.1% | 73.9% | 0.2% | 8.6% |
| Special Education | 66.4% | 63.7% | 2.7% | 12.4% |
| Socio-Economically Disadvantaged | 85.6% | 83.3% | 2.3% | 9.2% |
| Foster Youth(n=57) | 54.4% | 62.9% | -8.5% | |
12th-grade graduates completing all courses required for UC/CSU entrance
SFUSD requires that all students complete the a-g course sequence, a requirement for the University of California or California State University, in order to graduate. For SFUSD, 54.6 percent of students completed the course sequence with a grade of C or higher. This rate is significantly higher than the state’s 45.4 percent.
SFUSD cohort graduation rates higher than that of their peers
San Francisco continues to be one of the highest-performing districts compared to other similar districts while maintaining more rigorous graduation standards.
The 2015-16 cohort data released by CDE provides four-year graduation and dropout rates for all entering ninth-graders in 2012-13 for all districts in California.
Page updated on 04/11/17