Local public high school graduation rates on the rise
Our “Back to School” coverage continues with a look at high school graduation rates here in the Coachella Valley. There are three different school districts spread across our nine city area, Palm Springs Unified, Desert Sands Unified and Coachella Valley Unified, each district with its own challenges.
KESQ’s I-team reporter Karen Devine took an in-depth look at the graduation numbers from each Valley public high school for 2017 comparing local school districts
Check out more I-Team Investigation stories
Approximately 4500 seniors graduated from 17 public high schools in the Coachella Valley this year, including continuation schools. All three school districts are tasked with making sure its high schools have successful graduation rates.
There are more than 22-thousand public high schools in the state of California and while the data shows the percentage of graduates has increased in 2017, a closer look shows that the chances of earning a high school diploma may differ depending on where you live.
Devine requested data from all three Valley school districts including Palm Springs, Desert Sands and Coachella Valley Unified, showing us the numbers of seniors at each high school in 2017 versus how many earned their diploma on graduation night.
Top schools by percentage include Two in Palm Springs Unified. Of the 396 Palm Springs High School seniors, there were 11 non-graduates equalling a 97.2 % graduation rate.
At Rancho Mirage High School, there were 411 seniors, 4 did not graduate, RMHS had a nearly perfect average at 99%.
In Desert Sands Unified School District, the top performers were:
Palm Desert High School with 464 seniors, 16 non-graduates equaling a 96.5% graduation rate. Shadow Hills High School had a slightly better average with 454 seniors, 10 students who didn’t walk at graduation, reaching a 97.7% graduation rate. La Quinta High School had the best average in the valley with 551 seniors and only one student who didn’t walk pushing the graduation rate to 99.8%
“It’s exciting for our school but more than anything, it’s exciting for the kids to meet that benchmark or that hallmark in their lives to graduate from high school,” says Principal Dr. Rebecca Cook, La Quinta High School.
The one senior who was short credits on graduation night completed a summer school class to be included as a 2017 high school grad. Essentially La Quinta hit the 100% graduation rate.
“That’s 100% of this year’s class graduating on time with their class as the class of 2017 and I don’t know when that’s ever happened, it’s just exciting and it warms my heart,” says Dr. Cook.
Coachella Valley Unified School District is a different story.
Coachella Valley High School had 573 seniors, the largest senior class in the valley. 41 did not graduate equalling a 92.8% graduation rate.
Desert Mirage High School had the worst average with 354 seniors and 39 who didn’t walk on graduation night, they finished with an 88.9% graduation rate for 2017.
We reached out to Coachella Valley Unified School District for a comment on this and have not heard back. While the numbers are not dire they show how all districts in the valley have their own challenges when it comes to getting seniors to the finish line.
According to La Quinta High School’s principal, tapping into each students potential and keeping them on the path to graduation takes planning.
“We have what’s called a freshman success 101 class. The short version is, it gives them goals. “What’s your life goal and then we work backwards from there. How are you going to get there, what do you want, who are you and how are you going to get there? There’s no excuse not to succeed here,” says Dr. Cook.
All three Valley school districts showed an increase in their graduation rate numbers from 2016 to 2017, according to edsource.org, an education and research multimedia publication. They say, a possible contributing factor to the state’s overall increase in graduation rates in the last year is the suspension of the high school exit exam last year.
