Graduation rate for San Diego Unified class of 2025 up 2%

More San Diego Unified School District high school students are graduating, and more of them are graduating prepared for life after high school, according to figures released Monday by the district.

The announcement tracks the high school graduation rates for the 2024-2025 academic year, during which the class of 2025 graduation rate rose by 2% over the previous year. The college and career preparedness rate rose by 4.2% over last year, as measured by the state’s College and Career Indicator.

“It is encouraging to see this level improvement, but we have a lot more work to do to ensure every student graduates from our high schools prepared to experience a choice-filled life,” said SDUSD Superintendent Fabi Bagula. “We are constantly working to improve student outcomes throughout our district, and I attribute these modest rises in graduation rates and college and career readiness to our focus on real-time data monitoring, and collaborative support systems we have enacted to help students on their path to being future ready.”

While graduation rates improved, there was a slight downturn (0.9%) of students choosing SDUSD’s career technical education path — one of three the district offers its students with the intention of improving their college and career opportunities post graduation.

According to the California Department of Education, career technical education “significantly increases the high school graduation rate and also results in a higher percentage of students going to college and persisting through graduation. High-risk students are 8 to 10 times less likely to drop out in grades 10 and 11 if they enroll in a CTE program instead of a general program,” according to a statement from the district.

“What is going to be different going forward is because of a Golden State Pathways grant we’ve received from the state of California, we’re going to leverage the expertise of instructional coordinators who will be able to better guide our students and families as they decide if the CTE pathway is the right one for them,” said Jen Roberson, executive director of the Office of Graduation at SDUSD.