Class of 2024 Graduation Rate Sets New Record

Class of 2024 Graduation Rate Sets New Record
Posted on 01/10/2025
Class of 2024 Graduation Rate Sets New Record

The School District of Lee County is proud to announce the graduation rate for the Class of 2024 rose to 85.8%, setting a record high for the School District since new graduation standards were implemented in 2022. The 2019-2020 graduation rate was artificially inflated by the exemption for seniors from statewide, standardized assessment requirements stipulated in state law due to the COVID pandemic.

Notable increases for the School District are Cypress Lake High School increasing its graduation rate by 5.6 points to 94.3%, Lehigh Senior High School increasing by 3.6 points to 89.2%, and Riverdale High School increasing by 3.4 points to 97.6%. Lee Virtual School graduated 100% of its Class of 2024. Without charter schools, the graduation rate for the School District’s 15 high schools and Lee Virtual School is 93%.

However, the graduation rate again places Lee County 9th out of the 10 largest school districts and failing to keep up with the 1.7-point increase for the state of Florida’s graduation rate. This is a common trend the School District of Lee County is focused on reversing.

“Increasing student achievement is one of my top priorities as superintendent and the improvement in graduation rates is testament to the hard work of our students, teachers, school administrators and support staff,” said Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin. “At the same time, the graduation rate also demonstrates our continued need to work harder to meet and surpass the improvements seen by other districts and the state, so we truly are a world class school district. I am committed to ensuring we have the teachers and resources we need to improve academic excellence and student achievement.”

Florida’s Class of 2024 graduation rate report

The School District is also proud to announce it had the fewest number of dropouts in at least six years, decreasing the dropout rate to 1.8%. The dropout rate is the percentage of students who drop out of school within four years of their first enrollment in ninth grade without transferring to another school, home education program or adult education program. 1.8% is lower than the state average of 2.2% and less than half the rate of the neighboring school districts in Collier and Charlotte County. The School District also ranks 4th out of the ten largest districts.