District Graduation Rates Released

By SFPS

For the 2016-2017 school year, Santa Fe Public Schools saw a 2% decrease in graduation rates. Santa Fe High School saw a decline of 5%, with a graduation rate of 67.7%, and Capital High School saw a decline of 2% with a graduation rate of 70.4%. Our alternative school, the Academy saw an increase of 9% with a rate of 59.9%. The State of New Mexico reported an overall graduation rate of 71% for the State, while Santa Fe Public Schools had an overall graduation rate of 68.9%.

Statement from Superintendent Dr. Veronica C. Garcia:

“While we will continue to intensely address graduation rates, we will continue to keep a focus on graduating students who truly are ready for college or career. It is our duty to ensure that we don’t graduate students who hold a diploma but lack the academic skills to fully benefit from this first important academic credential, the high school diploma.

“I advised the Board of Education last year that that we would see a drop in the graduation rate at our comprehensive high schools because we tightened up the credit recovery process and worked to adhere to rigorous academic standards. While it is important to have high graduation rates, it is troubling to me that in Santa Fe and throughout New Mexico we see low academic proficiency rates.

“We will continue to analyze the relationship between how we are preparing our students for college and career and the success our graduates experience. We will seek ways to collect post graduation data not only on remediation rates but also employment rates in our community. In addition we will seek to foster the attributes of our graduates that will ensure their success in the world of work as well as in the academic world. We continue our commitment to improve these rates while ensuring are graduates have the attributes for success after high school.”