The future looks promising for New York City’s high school students. New state data revealed that the city’s graduation rate increased in 2018, making it the highest graduation rate in recorded history.
According to the New York Post, the rate increased by 1.2 percentage points compared to the year before. The percentage of students who graduated within four years by 2017 was 74.3 percent.
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The city also made history with the lowest recorded dropout rates decreasing by 0.6 to 7.8 percent across the city.
“If we are going to make New York City the fairest big city in America, it starts with giving our kids the education they deserve, and we are executing this vision every day,” said Mayor de Blasio in a statement.
Additionally, ethnic and racial group graduation rates rose as well. Asian students graduated with 87.5 percent; white students followed with 83.2 percent; Black students with 70 percent; and Hispanics with 68.3 For dropout rates, Asian students rate was the lowest with 4 percent; white students with 4.4; Black students with 7.9; and Hispanic students with 10.7.
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Although graduation rates rose across the different demographics, the wide achievement gaps, unfortunately, remained. For Asians, the number increased by 1.8 points; for white students, the number increased 0.9 points from 2016; Black students increased 1.3 points; Hispanics with one point compared to last year.
As the rates apples to the boroughs, Staten Island students topped the list for highest graduation rates with 80.3 percent. Queens followed with 77.8; Manhattan at 74.9; Brooklyn fourth at 74.47 and the Bronx ending last at 66.3.
Critics have argued against the rising rate and significance since the state standards and credit-recovery options are constantly changing for students that are lagging.
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David Bloomfield, Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center Education Professor said that statistics are not reliable to track advancement.
“Widespread data manipulation can cast doubt on these numbers,” Bloomfield said. Phil Weinberg, Deputy Schools chancellor thinks otherwise. He believes the city’s statistics are legit indicators of progression.