The Senior Graduation Rate Rises in New Orleans
A valuable measurement of a high school’s performance is the percentage of its seniors that graduate.
Prompted by the recent Times-Picayune profile of the tremendous improvement in the senior graduation rate at John McDonogh High School (click here to view article), Educate Now wanted to see how the seniors in all New Orleans high schools fared.
Historically, New Orleans has done a dismal job helping its seniors cross the finish line. In fact, in spring 2005, the last year all the schools were under the Orleans Parish School Board, only 79% of New Orleans seniors graduated, tying Madison Parish for the worst record in the state. Thus, for every 100 seniors, 21 did not get to walk across the stage and receive a diploma.
(click here for the 2005 state report)
So how did we do this year? 89% of New Orleans seniors graduated – a gain of 10 percentage points. This is good news for New Orleans and even better news for the 2,030 students who now can proudly say they are high school graduates. (See the chart below for graduation rates by school.)
Educate Now applauds area high schools for their improvement, but it’s not yet time for the champagne. Our schools need to do even better, so every senior can experience the joy of walking across the stage, diploma triumphantly in hand.
New Orleans High School Graduation Rates
Individual High School Graduation Rates, Spring 2009
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For individual high school graduation rates for 2007, 2008 and 2009, click here.