SFUSD Graduation Rate Reaches its Highest in Six Years

Posted Date

SFUSD Graduation Rate Reaches its Highest in Six Years

Significant gains for Latinx and Pacific Islander students, English Learners, and students experiencing homelessness

Press Release

San Francisco (January 12, 2023) - The San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) graduation rate for the 2021-22 school year rose to 90.2%, its highest rate in six years. The district’s graduation rate improved from 88.3% for the 2020-21 cohort.

The SFUSD graduation rate in 2016-17 is used as a baseline for comparison due to federal requirements that prompted changes to the calculation of the cohort graduation rate. The graduation rate for all students in SFUSD has trended upwards since 2016-17.

Many subgroups saw increases in graduation rates from last school year. Significant increases include Latinx students improving from 76.7% in 2020-21 to 81.0% in 2021-22; Pacific Islander students from 83.0% in 2020-21 to 88.6% in 2021-22; English Learners from 69.2% in 2020-21 to 76.3% in 2021-22; and students experiencing homelessness from 73.3% in 2020-21 to 82.0% in 2021-22.

“Our graduation rate is one of the ways we measure student outcomes and we’re pleased to see an increase in the overall rate from previous years,” Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne said. “We recognize there is still work to do to ensure all of our students graduate from SFUSD as independent thinkers with a sense of agency and to have attained academic and creative skills to lead productive lives and contribute to our community.”

Over the past decade, SFUSD has developed and implemented systems to better identify and track the progress of students towards graduation including the development of on-track off-track measures for early intervention. SFUSD has also implemented a portfolio of credit-earning options for students so if a student needs to make up a course, they can do so without falling further behind.

SFUSD high schools have also expanded programs that give students real-world career learning experiences, which research shows increases student engagement, a precursor for persisting through high school. In addition, the district has developed evidence-based programs to strategically support English Learners and African American students.

To view detailed overall and subgroup results over the last six years, see the table below.

SFUSD 6-Year Cohort Graduation Rate, 6-year trend

Source: California Department of Education, DataQuest. Date: Data current as of 1/4/2023.

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