For all of these reasons, this analysis examined high school graduation rates and middle school truancy rates as one risk factor for dropping out of high school. Public high schools in and around the HSC study area had better high school graduation rates than district schools, as demonstrated in the data on high school graduation in Table 27. During 2011–2012, high schools in the HSC study area generally graduated more students as a percentage of all students enrolled than the district as a whole. Among 19 area schools with grades 9 through 12, all but two high schools reported graduation rates above the Los Angeles Unified School District graduation rate of 66.6% Table 27: High School Graduation Rate, 2011–2012 Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High†
94.3%
Academy of Medical & Health Sciences at Roosevelt High
89.8 %
Anahuacalmecac International University Preparatory High†
89.5 %
Academy of Environment & Social Policy at Roosevelt High
89.1 %
Math, Science, & Technology Magnet Academy at Roosevelt High†
88.2 %
James A. Garfield Senior High
84.7 %
Engineering and Technology Academy at Esteban E. Torres High No. 3
83.3 %
E. Los Angeles Performing Arts Academy at Esteban E. Torres High No. 1
81.2 %
School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math at Roosevelt High
79.2 %
Woodrow Wilson Senior High
78.5 %
Abraham Lincoln Senior High
75.7 %
School of Engineering and Technology
75.0 %
Humanitas Academy of Art and Technology at Esteban E. Torres High No. 4
74.4 %
E. Los Angeles Renaissance Academy at Esteban E. Torres High No. 2
73.3 %
Social Justice Leadership Academy at Esteban E. Torres High No. 5
72.6 %
Humanitas Art School at Roosevelt High
69.8 %
School of Law & Government at Roosevelt High
68.9 %
Los Angeles Unified School District
66.6 %
Theodore Roosevelt Senior High
53.4 %
Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High
48.6 %
This table shows high school graduation rates for schools in the HSC study area and the Los Angeles Unified School District. The four-year adjusted cohort high school graduation rate is calculated by dividing the number of students in the four-year adjusted cohort who graduate in four years or less with either a traditional high school diploma or an adult education high school diploma or have passed the California High School Proficiency Exam by the number of students who form the adjusted cohort for that graduating class. Schools in red are in the USC Family of Schools. Schools with crosses have addresses within the study area; schools without crosses have 20% or more of attendance boundaries in the study area. Source: California Department of Education (2011–12).
This information from the California Department of Education surprised most focus group participants, who said they felt that area schools were not doing well in terms of graduation rates. The discord here could be due to under-reporting of student outcomes based on mobile students or a gap between perceptions and the actual situation. Disparities in graduation rates between types of students, such as English learners and native English speakers, could also be a source of local parental perceptions. This analysis is an overview and did not examine that level of detail, which could be an area for future research. The two high schools that had lower graduation rates than the district, Roosevelt High School and Mendez Learning Center for Mathematics and Science, are in the Boyle Heights neighborhood. In recent years, these high schools split into smaller, more specialized magnet schools. The state graduation rate formula changed in 2009, making data trending difficult for previous years.
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