Graduation rates up in Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Walton counties

WUWF | By Sandra Averhart | January 14, 2025

Florida’s high school graduation rate rose to 89.7% during the 2023-24 school year, an increase of 1.7 percentage points over previous year’s results and the highest rate in Florida history, outside the COVID-19 pandemic.

Locally, the recently released report from the Florida Department of Education shows increases in the graduation rate in three of the four counties of Northwest Florida.

The Walton County School District, the smallest (less than 12,000 students) and least diverse in the area, scored the second highest graduation rate in the state at 97.4%, an increase of nearly two percentage points over the 2022-23 school year.

Statewide, only Lafayette County Schools, which serves just 1,133 total students, scored better with a 100% graduation rate.

In Santa Rosa County, the school district is celebrating a one-half percent increase over the previous year and a new record achievement.

“We are so excited to see the results,” said Santa Rosa Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Karen Barber. “And it is the highest it has been in Santa Rosa history. It is 90.9%.”

That means just under 91% of the more than 2,200 students who started as freshmen in the fall of 2020 graduated on time, in four years. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the remaining almost 9% of the students in the cohort are dropouts. According to the superintendent, many students just need more time to meet all the requirements.

“First of all, nowadays, not only do students have to earn 18 or 24 credits, they also have to have a GPA, of 2.0 or higher to get the diploma. And they also have to pass state assessments in algebra, language arts, biology, geometry and US History,” she said. “So even if they have a great GPA and they have all their credits, if they don’t pass those end of course exams, they don’t get their diploma. So it’s really high stakes testing.”

But there’s plenty of opportunity to get it right. Barber referenced the case of one student who had to take the English Language Arts course exam 17 times before finally getting the required score.

“We provided her with a lot of support, a lot of tutoring. You can get discouraged when you don’t pass an exam over and over again,” she said. “So she had a lot of support at the school, just making sure that she knew we believed in her, that she could do it.”

Boot camps and mentoring are among the services provided. The district also works closely with parents to keep them and their students informed on graduation status through an online dashboard.

Within the Santa Rosa County School District, Gulf Breeze High School achieved a graduation rate of 96.6% and was one of four traditional schools scoring at least 95% graduation. Of the district’s ESE (special needs) students, 83.4% graduated, while the district boasted an 87.5% graduation rate for English Language Learners.

With steady increases in graduation rates over the last three years, Barber’s goal is for the Class of ’25 to continue the district’s steady upward trend.

“We’ve gone from 88.9% pre-pandemic to 90.9%,” she said of the recent trajectory. “So we’re really measuring our success against, our previous year’s success. So, certainly, I would like to see over 91% for the ‘24-25 school year.”

In Escambia County, the school district recorded a graduation rate of 84.2%, an increase of almost one percent. Superintendent Keith Leonard says he very proud of their students and educators for their achievements.

“Once again, West Florida High School (98.6%) was our top high school, as it relates to graduation rate,” said Leonard. “Tate (93.3%) and Northview (92.3%) also graduated more than 90% of their students. “But you see an improvement, I want to say it every high school within the district.”

With African American students comprising nearly one-third of the 2023-24 cohort, Escambia is the most diverse school district in the region.

“With our African American population, 78.3%; it was a 7.5% increase in 2023-24 from 2022-23,” Leonard stated. “So pretty significant increase there as well.”

Escambia is also the poorest of the state’s westernmost districts, with over half the cohort on free or reduced lunch. The graduation rate for the district’s economically disadvantaged students rose to 81.7%, an increase of five-and-a-half percentage points over the 2022-23 school year.

According to Leonard, these increases show the district is beginning to reach all students, regardless of their neighborhood or family income.

“Our responsibility is to increase and raise trajectory for all students,” he said. “And it shows that in this past year we provided a higher rate of those students that were and are economically disadvantaged at a higher rate than we had the year previous.”

Looking forward, Leonard’s immediate goal for the district, overall, is to equal or surpass Escambia’s graduation high of 87% in 2020-21, when requirements were relaxed due to COVID.

“Of course, they have no longer relaxed those requirements,” the superintendent began. “But we want to get to at least 87% or surpass that. And, then ultimately our goal is to surpass the state average, hopefully, within the next two years.”

Elsewhere in Northwest Florida, the graduation rate in the Okaloosa County School District dipped slightly to 87.7%, down two-tenths of a percent. Among the district’s traditional schools, Crestview stood out with the highest overall graduation rate of just over 97%; Niceville followed closely at 96.8%.