More students graduating on time!

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

New Orleans 4-year Cohort Graduation Rate Continues to Rise

The citywide 4-year graduation rate for New Orleans (OPSB+RSD) increased by 2.5 percentage points, bringing it to 75.2% of all students graduating on time.
 
Today, the state released the 4-year cohort graduation rates for the Class of 2015. The Class of 2015 cohort includes all students who entered 9th grade for the first time in 2011, and the cohort graduation rate is the percentage of students in the cohort who graduated within four years. 

New Orleans Outperforms the State in Every Key Sub-Group

In 2015, 73.3% of African-American students graduated on time in New Orleans, an increase of 2.6 percentage points from 2014 and 1.9 points higher than the state average of 71.4% for African-American students. 
 
The New Orleans 4-year cohort graduation rates for other key sub-groups – students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students, and English language learners – were also higher than the state average for these sub-groups.

 
4-Year Cohort Graduation Rates by Sub-Group
 

 

New Orleans Compares Well to the State’s Other Urban School Districts

The New Orleans 4-year graduation rate is 8 percentage points higher than East Baton Rouge Parish, 2 points higher than Jefferson, and 2 points below the state average.

4-Year Cohort Graduation Rates
District
Class of 
2015
Louisiana
77.5%
New Orleans 
75.2%
Caddo Parish
75.2%
Jefferson Parish
73.3%
East Baton Rouge 
67.2%
 

5-Year Graduation Rate Equals State Average

Recognizing that some students take longer than four years to graduate, the state also released the 5-year graduation rate for the Class of 2014. This captures what percentage of the 9th grade class of 2010 graduated by 2015. The New Orleans 5-year cohort graduation rate is 76%, the same as the state average.

The Big Picture

These gains in graduation rates mirror the progress New Orleans high school students have achieved in other areas, including ACT scores and eligibility for TOPS scholarships.

Since 2013, the first year the state began giving all students the ACT, there has been a 5 percentage point increase in the number of students scoring 17 or higher, and a 5 point increase in the number of students scoring 20 or higher. In 2015, there were 1379 students with TOPS-eligible ACT scores, 148 students more than just two years earlier, in 2013.

This progress means our students have more opportunities available to them after high school, and they are better prepared for college and a career.

For more Information:
 
x