San Bernardino County seniors from the Class of '17 nearly matched the statewide graduation rate, according to newly formulated four-year adjusted cohort grad data released today by the California Department of Education (CDE).
The county's four-year adjusted cohort grad rate of 82.6 percent was just one-tenth of a percent below the California average for the 2016-17 academic year, according to the state data. That's the closest county graduates have been to the state average since the California Department of Education began using its more exacting California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) eight years ago.
"We've seen tremendous improvement during the past several years among districts in our county with the increased numbers of seniors who are graduating from high school," County Superintendent Ted Alejandre said.
The adjusted cohort data for 2016-17 released by CDE uses different parameters from the first seven years of previous cohort data, so recent year-to-year comparisons are not relevant. The changes in methodology do not count adult education grads and those who pass the state's high school proficiency exam as those receiving regular high school diplomas. The state also counts students who transfer to adult education programs or community colleges in the denominator for the cohort calculation.
According to the CDE, these changes reduce the number of students counted as graduates.
Under the previous methodology, the 2015-16 grad rate for San Bernardino County students was 83 percent.
In the 2016-17 data, the county recorded 26,992 seniors who earned their regular high school diplomas out of a cohort of 32,697 students. Of those graduates, nearly 11,000 - 10,968 seniors or 40.6 percent - graduated, meeting the requirements for entrance to a University of California or Cal State University system school. For 2015-16, 37.6 percent of San Bernardino County grads met the UC/CSU requirements.
Among county subgroups of students, Asian students' graduation rate was 93.5 percent, followed by White students (84.6 percent), Hispanic/Latino (83.4 percent) and African American (75.9 percent). Hispanic/Latino students made up the largest subgroup of graduates at 62.8 percent, followed by White students (20 percent), African American students (8.5 percent) and Asian students (3.8 percent).