Sarasota County Schools broke record graduation rate in 2023-24

Sarasota County Schools announced a record graduation rate of 92.5% for 2023-2024 on Jan. 9. 

The announcement followed the release of the data for that cohort, by the Florida Department of Education, that same day. 

This statistic does not include the class of 2019-2020, when graduation and assessment requirements were waived because of the pandemic.

During a press conference, individuals highlighted a district-wide initiative behind the graduation rates, which Superintendent of Schools Terry Connor said represented a 2 percentage point increase over the previous year. 

He noted the district moved from 19th to 13th place in the state in one year, calling it a "tremendous jump due to the dedicated people that are behind me today."

Schools that attained a 100% rate included Pine View School, Suncoast Polytechnical High School and Sarasota Virtual School. 

High-achieving Sarasota area schools included Booker High School, which saw a 5% increase in graduation rates over the past year and a 7% improvement over five years, reaching 90.6%, and Sarasota High School, which saw a year-over-year increase of 6.7% for a 93.2% graduation rate, its highest in five years and the largest increase of any of the traditional public high schools.

All traditional public schools, reached or exceeded a 90% graduation rate for the first time, Connor said. 

"It's such an honor to work with all of these individuals who put their heart and soul into making sure that students have what they need, the support that they need, the love that they need to be successful, whether they're going off to college, they're going into the workforce, they're going into the military, we've done our job in preparing students to do whatever they want to do in life, to be successful in that next phase," Connnor said. 

Connor also said the English language learner population increased 16 percentage points in its graduation rate over the last year, which he called a "tremendous job that is because of the very targeted interventions that we are providing all of our students, and especially our students that are speaking languages other than English."

Principal Ryan Chase of Sarasota High School spoke on the school's initiatives.

"I first want to recognize that this achievement would not be possible without our district leadership support and prioritization of academic excellence, and in particular our chief of high schools Dr. Megan Green, who was not just a participant but a collaborator in this process..." he said.

He said the school's team offered programs including a mentorship program which focused on 64 students identifying as credit or GPA deficient, resulting in 98% of those students graduating, and on-campus ACT, SAT and CLT testing and testing preparation centers, which reduced the number of seniors requiring tests at graduation by 99%.

Dr. Rachel Shelley, principal of Booker High School called the five percentage point increase "unbelievable," stating that, "number one, it was the support of our district staff, led by the best executive chief that exists, Dr. Green."

She said it was also because of the "collaborative world of our project team," as well as to community, staff, and district support.

"In addition to that, we had amazing teachers that decided it was their number one priority to help us reach our objective," she said.

She said of 342 students who graduated, 64% were on free and reduced lunches. 

"Everyone was a part of making this accomplishment become a reality, so we are so very, very grateful for everyone," she said. 

"We are not finished," Connor said. "We are excited about where we're at, but we're not satisfied. We will continue to push forward, and we will not stop until we reach 100 percent graduate rate, because we have a mission: every student, every day, and when every student graduates, then we have fulfilled that mission."