[Tallahassee, FL] According to Florida Department of Education officials, the Florida graduation rate for high school students is as high as it has ever been. The number – which now sits at 80.1% – is a 1.1% improvement over last year, part of a six-year climb upward.

That’s a 10% improvement since 2006-07, something everyone in the system can be proud of.

“I want to commend Florida’s teachers, students, parents and school leaders for their dedication to helping their students learn and earn their high school diplomas,” said Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson. “As educators, we each play a significant role in helping our students achieve academic success, and graduation is one critical step toward the path to college and career.”

Hispanic and African-American students have even made greater strides since 2006-2007, with Hispanic graduation rates increasing 13% and African-American rates increasing 11.5% during that period. This year Hispanics were at 77.3% (up 2% from last year) while African-Americans showed no growth from last year, achieving a rate of 68.4%.

The Florida graduation rate for White students was up 1.4% to 86.8%.

There is also good news when it comes to high school drop-outs, as Florida’s rate dropped below 2% at 1.9%, the first time it has been that low. In 2006-2007, the rate was 3.6%.

The figures exclude General Educational Development diplomas, otherwise known as GEDs.

More localized data as well as broken down by race:

By: Mark Christopher/Sunshine Slate

Image: Justin Brockie

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Florida graduation rate

[Tallahassee, FL] Governor Rick Scott today commended the State Board of Education for selecting Gerard Robinson as Florida’s next Education Commissioner. Florida is stealing Robinson from Virginia, where he currently serves as Secretary of Education.

“Gerard brings to Florida a long and remarkable set of accomplishments in innovation and proven results that will help us continue putting children first, improving our schools and ensuring Florida has the best-educated workforce,” Governor Scott said. “His leadership as an experienced education reformer and advocate for school choice and closing the achievement gap is exactly what Florida needs to reach the next level of education reforms that will benefit both our students and the businesses of our state.”

Gov. Scott meets with Gerard Robinson, Florida’s new Education Commissioner

Governor’s office-provided background info on Robinson:

• Mr. Robinson received a Master of Education degree from Harvard University, a Bachelor of Arts from Howard University, and an Associate of Arts from El Camino Community College.
• He is married and has two daughters.
• He successfully worked to achieve legislative approval of the Virginia Governor’s K-12 Opportunity to Learn initiatives related to charter, virtual and college laboratory schools.
• Robinson was the president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that actively supports parental choice to empower families and to increase quality educational options for Black children.
• Robinson served as a senior research associate for the School Choice Demonstration Project at the University of Arkansas.
• Robinson served as as a senior fellow at the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University. As a senior fellow, he assisted in reform efforts related to Milwaukee’s private and public school choice programs and provided testimony before a Wisconsin legislative hearing on “Closing the Achievement Gap.”
• Robinson is on the board of the following organizations: the Policy Advisory Council at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; the Advisory Committee for the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University; and the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program.
• As executive director of a nonprofit organization in New York City, he opened a charter school in New Jersey.
• He participated in the crafting of public policy through his fellowship with the California State Senate, as a resource person in the Virginia General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a legislative liaison for the superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools.
• Mr. Robinson also was an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles and a teacher in the Pre-College Academic Program at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, New Jersey.
• For the past several years, Mr. Robinson has given formal and informal presentations about education and public policy before audiences in the United States and abroad. Forums include: the John F. Kennedy School of Government; the NAACP; the Toussaint Institute; the Curry School of Education; UVA School of Law; the Brookings Institution; Teach for America; the Lexington Institute; the Commonwealth Foundation; the National Archives and Records Administration; the Humanities Council of Washington, DC; the Virginia Public Policy Institute; the Close Up Foundation; Howard University School of Law; the Cato Institute; the Black Issues in Higher Education Conference; the Community Teachers Institute; the Harvard Graduate School of Education; the Stanford School of Business; the Congress for the New Urbanism; the Minnesota legislature; the Institute for Humane Studies; the American Legislative Exchange Council; the U.S. Department of Education; a White House Education Conference; the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; the Alliance for Catholic Education; the Thomas B. Fordham Institute; and National Public Radio ’s Talk of the Nation; and CSPAN.
• Mr. Robinson’s publications include: “The Color of Success: Black Student Achievement in Public Charter Schools” (issue brief); African American National Biography; “Urban School District Takeovers: Theory and Practice” (report); “More than Homework, a Snack, and Basketball: Afterschool Programs as an Oasis of Hope for Black Parents in Four Cities”; “A Survey of School Choice Research”; “Freedom of Choice: Brown, Vouchers, and the Philosophy of Language”; and “Can the Spirit of Brown Survive in the Era of School Choice? A Legal and Policy Perspective”.

Videos of Gerard Robinson in action earlier in his career:

- Mark Christopher