Lake County Schools’ graduation rate jumped 2.7 percentage points, increasing from 84.1 percent in 2017-18 to 86.8 percent in 2018-19, which nearly mirrors the statewide graduation rate of 86.9 percent, according to data released today by the Florida Department of Education.
Each of the district’s eight high schools saw an increase, the largest of which was at Umatilla High School, where the graduation rate soared from 84.2 percent in 2017-18 to 94.1 percent in 2018-19, an increase of 9.9 percentage points.
Superintendent Diane Kornegay said she is proud of the steady increase in graduation rates over the past three years. “I am grateful to the faculty, staff and administration at each of our high schools for their relentless support of our students, which is resulting in more and more students walking across the graduation stage ready to enter college and/or go to work,” she said. “That is our mission, our responsibility.”
She attributed the increase, in large part, to the work of the district’s graduation resource facilitators, school counselors and school administrators. Each high school has had a graduation resource facilitator on staff since 2017-18. They, along with other members of their school team, conduct monthly meetings to monitor student progress and share tracking information and strategies. The monitoring begins as early as 9th grade, as the facilitators and counselors look strategically at each student’s progress and intervene early if a student appears to be off track for graduation.
Lake’s increase is part of a statewide increase that state leaders touted with the release of the data. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that Florida’s 2018-19 graduation rate rose to 86.9 percent, an increase of 0.8 percentage points over the previous year. “I applaud Florida’s students, parents and educators for their hard work and dedication that led to these increased graduation rates,” he said. “While these results are a positive mark of Florida’s upward progress, we cannot allow ourselves to become complacent. We must continue striving for educational excellence and making Florida the number one state in the nation for education.”
