High School Graduation Rates on the Rise in San Bernardino County

11Sep
by Danielle Mejia

As much as I hate to admit it, I will confess that I graduated high school in 2007. In 2007, the statewide graduation rate for California was 71%, which is something I did not know until I did a little research for this article. I am happy to say that today the graduation rate for the state of California now stands at an amazing 83.7%. That is almost a 12% jump over the last 10 years. It’s slow incremental change, but it’s comforting to know that the students of today are much more prepared for college, careers, and life in general.

“When schools are held accountable and students are given support to help them stay in school and on track, real progress is possible,” said John Gomperts, president and CEO of America’s Promise Alliance.

John Gomperts is the leader of what is now known as the “GradNation” campaign, an effort that those of you with high school aged children may have heard of. For those of you who are unaware, “Building a GradNation” is a nationwide campaign whose mission is to help schools reach a 90 percent on-time high school graduation rate by the year 2020. Thanks to this amazing campaign, students all over the United States are now graduating at a higher rate than ever before. Additionally, statistics show that graduation rates are steadily inching upward, though there is a way to go to meet the goals of the campaign.

While researching, I came across some pretty impressive results. I thought I would share some of San Bernardino County’s numbers for the class of 2016. Below are the graduation rates for the five largest school districts in San Bernardino County according to edsource.org. I included the number of students for each district along with each district’s graduation rate, just to give everyone a better understanding of the improvement in Inland Empire students and schools are doing these days.

 

School District Number of Students Graduation Rate
Chaffey Joint Union High 6,068 91.32%
Chino Valley Unified 2,513 90.97%
Fontana Unified 3,178 90.06%
Rialto Unified 2,012 83.8%
San Bernardino City Unified 3,385 85.97%

It’s truly refreshing to know that our future generations are growing, thriving, and succeeding. Knowing that our children are learning and achieving amazing things with the help and persistence parents, great teachers of today, and the whole education community is pretty exciting. I look forward to seeing the future accomplishments that will come from our next generation of youth.

To read more information on graduation rates for your local high schools and schools around the state, click on edsource.org or simply click here.

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Danielle Mejia

Danielle Mejia was born and raised in the Inland Empire and now resides in San Bernardino. She attended private school in San Bernardino from Kindergarten to 12th grade and attended college at California State University San Bernardino. Danielle has worked for the County of San Bernardino and the San Bernardino City Unified School District over the past 8 years. She is a new mother to a 3 month old baby girl and is here to share her experiences and perspective, as a Latina woman and as a 27 year- old mother of 1 living in the Inland Empire.

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