With an improved dropout rate but a decreased graduation rate, Gilroy Unified School District’s 2012-13 cohort class showed mixed results in statistics released April 28 by the California Department of Education.
GUSD’s graduation rate dropped to 83.6 percent—meaning 713 of 853 students graduated on time—from an 85.3 percent rate for the previous 2011-12 cohort group.
Those same statistics, however, showed an improved dropout rate of 8.9 percent from the previous group’s 9.6 percent. In the 2012-13 cohort, 55 students who failed to graduate on time remain in GUSD schools for the current 2013-14 school year.
“We’re very happy about the continued decline of our dropout rate,” said GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores, noting that the dropout rate stood at 20 percent six years ago. “To cut our dropout rate by more than half is just remarkable and a testament to so many people’s
hard work.”
GUSD bested countywide rates (82.9 grad/11.1 dropout) and statewide rates (80.2 grad/11.6 dropout).
“Our goal is to get to 90 percent for all subgroups, all schools, and I think we’ll get there,” Flores said of the grad rate. “It dropped slightly this year because of a number of students coming back for their fifth year … bottom-line is we don’t want to lose any student. We want every student to graduate.”
In the closely-examined Hispanic subgroup, GUSD’s graduation rate fell to 78.3 percent for the 2012-13 class, down from 82.5 for 2011-12 class. That downward trend for the same group continued in dropout rates, which rose from 11.3 to 12.1 percent in one year’s time.
Marked improvement showed in GUSD’s white subgroup, which climbed more than three percent points to a 94.4 graduation rate and improved 4.2 percent points to a 2.5 dropout rate.
Four-year adjusted cohort
The dropout and graduation data is generated by a relatively new formula called the four-year adjusted cohort, which the CDE instituted four years ago.
Los Gatos/Saratoga Union: 97.1 grad/1.2 dropout
Mountain View-Los Altos Union:94.3 grad/2.9 dropout
Santa Clara Unified: 94.1 grad/5.9 dropout
Fremont Union: 93.9 grad/4.3 dropout
Palo Alto Unified: 93.5 grad/5.5 dropout
Morgan Hill Unified: 93.2 grad/3.4 dropout
Milpitas Unified: 92.8 grad/5.3 dropout
Campbell Union: 91.3 grad/4.6 dropout
Gilroy Unified: 83.6 grad/8.9 dropout
COUNTY-WIDE: 82.9 grad/11.1 dropout
East Side Union: 81.8 grad/13.7 dropout
San Jose Unified: 81.6 grad/9 dropout
STATE-WIDE: 80.2 grad/11.6 dropout
*Statistics by California Department of Education
