About 59 percent of D.C. students graduated in four years from high school last year, the Office of the State Superintendent announced Thursday.
The calculation comes after an Education Week projection that put the District’s “cohort” graduation rate — which tracks students from the ninth grade to get a more accurate figure — at 43 percent.
But Education Week used 2008 data to project results for the class of 2011, OSSE spokesman Brandon Frazier said: “Perhaps we’re even getting better.”
The U.S. Department of Education required states to report their cohort graduation rate, instead of the traditional “leaver” rate, in 2011. The leaver rate counts all graduates — not just those who finish in four years — and thus produced a higher, but less accurate, graduation rate. In 2010, the District’s leaver rate was 75.5 percent.
“Today’s report reflects OSSE’s commitment to transparency,” Superintendent Hosanna Mahaley said.
Citywide, D.C. Public Schools’ magnet schools produced the most graduates in 2011. Benjamin Banneker Academic High School graduated 100 percent of its seniors, followed by McKinley Technology Senior High School’s 93.7 percent, School Without Walls Senior High School’s 92.9 percent, and Duke Ellington School of the Arts’ 91.7 percent.
Fifth among the city’s high schools, and the top of the charter pile — which filled out the rest of the top 10, and beyond — was Washington Math, Science and Technology Public Charter School.
The worst graduation rates were found at Cardozo Senior High School (39.9 percent), Anacostia Senior High School (42.1 percent), William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School (42.1 percent), and Maya Angelou Public Charter School (42.1 percent).
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson is expected to comment later on Thursday, and The Washington Examiner is also reaching out to the D.C. Public Charter School Board for comment.
The full list of graduation rates:
BANNEKER SHS 100.00%
MCKINLEY TECHNOLOGY 93.68%
SCHOOL WW SHS 92.86%
ELLINGTON SHS 91.67%
WASHINGTON MATH, SCIENCE, & TECH 91.30%
THE SEED SCHOOL 90.00%
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON 86.05%
FRIENDSHIP PCS – WOODSON 85.80%
CESAR CHAVEZ PCS – CAPITOL HILL 84.88%
CESAR CHAVEZ PCS – PARKSIDE 82.46%
HYDE LEADERSHIP PCS/PERRY STREET PCS 79.41%
THURGOOD MARSHALL PCS 75.44%
WILSON SHS 73.76%
IDEA PCS 72.31%
EASTERN SHS 69.59%
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS EC 69.30%
IDEAL ACADEMY PCS – PEABODY [1] 68.57%
MAYA ANGELOU PCS- EVANS 65.00%
HOSPITALITY PCS 63.33%
DUNBAR SHS 60.25%
COOLIDGE SHS 59.81%
Statewide Average 58.58%
WOODSON SHS 57.14%
BALLOU SHS 48.11%
SPINGARN SHS 47.74%
ROOSEVELT SHS 46.03%
MAYA ANGELOU PCS- SHAW 42.11%
WILLIAM E. DOAR, JR PCS 42.11%
ANACOSTIA SHS 42.06%
CARDOZO SHS 39.93%
