SFPS Graduation Rates Are Up

Superintendent Joel Boyd

The rate at the Career Academy at Larragoite declined less than a percentage point, from 36.4 down to 35.8.

SFPS Superintendent Joel Boyd said he was pleased but not satisfied with the results.

“A 5 percent jump is encouraging, but we still have a long way to go,” Boyd said. “We’re still behind the state and national average, and we’re nowhere near where we want to be, which is 100 percent.”

The statewide average for all students was 70.3 percent, an increase of 7.3 points, according to information released by the New Mexico Public Education Department.

Though all the national numbers aren’t in for the 2011-2012 school year, Boyd said the national graduation rate also was near 70 percent.

The Santa Fe school district’s numbers don’t reflect Boyd’s efforts to increase graduation rates, since he didn’t come on board until last summer.

“The year-to-year increase speaks to the hard work of students, staff, families, administration and teachers,” he said. “If you look at the numbers, we picked up the losses we’ve had since 2009 and are just over that. We have to continue to make those gains and move forward, rather than take one step up and two steps back.”

The graduation rate in 2009 was right at 60 percent, but dropped to 53.2 in 2010.

For 2012, the school district saw increases in nearly every student group. Notable exceptions included a couple of categories of students at Santa Fe High. The rate for male students at SFHS declined from 62.3 percent in 2011 to 61.1 last year, while the rate for special education dropped from 64 to 50 percent.

Meanwhile, the special education grad rate at Capital increased from 34.3 percent to 46.5.

Other significant graduation rate increases occurred among Native American students, up from 34.9 percent to 59 percent districtwide; female students districtwide, from 58.2 percent to 67.6 percent; Hispanic students at Capital, from 54.3 percent to 62.3 percent; and economically disadvantaged students at Capital, which increased from 48.8 percent to 62.6 percent.

Not listed in a press release from Santa Fe Public Schools where the district’s charter schools. Academy for Technology and the Classics graduated 84.1 percent of its 60 high school seniors last year; Monte del Sol graduated 65.3 percent of 71 seniors; and Tierra Encantada graduated 35.7 percent of 80 seniors.

Santa Fe Public Schools graduation rates

2011                          2012
Santa Fe High                  64.1%                       67.6%
Capital High                     53.5%                       60.7%
Career Academy             36.4%                       35.8%
Total District                    56.5%                       61.8%

SFPS graduation rates by group

2011                           2012
Female                                58.2%                       67.6%
Male                                     55%                         56.5%
Caucasian                          60%                          67.5%
African-American          68.1%                       NA
Hispanic                             55.9%                       59.6%
Asian                                    51%                           75.3%
Native American             34.9%                        59%
Low Income                      51.1%                        58.9%
Special Ed                           47%                           51.9%
English Learners             55.2%                         59.3%