State announces Sarasota County dropout, graduation rates

The Florida Department of Education released graduation and dropout rate data for 2012-13 this week, which painted a mixed picture for the progress of Sarasota County Schools.

The graduation rate for Sarasota County public high schools was 76.2%, down from 78% last year. Still, the figure was higher than the statewide average graduation rate of 75.6%. Graduation rates are calculated using the Federal Uniform Rate, which is designed to allow for comparison between different school districts and states.

The county’s dropout rate, on the other hand, decreased from 2.2% last year to 1.5% for 2012-13. Sarasota’s dropout rate, which was above the statewide average last year, came in under this year’s state average of 2%.

Although the county was above average overall when it came to graduating its students, several area schools lagged behind the statewide average. Booker High School, North Port High School, Sarasota High School and Venice High School all came in under the average Florida graduation rate.

Pine View School, Sarasota Military Academy, Suncoast Polytechnical High School and Riverview High School all had above-average graduation rates for the state of Florida.

Booker High School was the only Sarasota County school to have a dropout rate higher than the state average, at 2.9%. That figure is slightly higher than last year’s rate of 2.8%, but is down from the school’s 2010-11 dropout rate of 3.4%. Overall, Sarasota County had a lower-than-average dropout rate for the first time since 2009.

More data and information about the 2012-13 graduation and dropout rates can be found at the Sarasota County Schools webpage.

Contact David Conway at [email protected].