Long Beach High School graduation rates on the rise

Long Beach High School officials say that the percentage of students in the 2007-08 freshman class who graduated in 2011 was larger than in previous years.

The State Education Department recently released data showing that high school graduation rates across the state have increased slightly.

“Our overall graduation rate was actually at the highest [in 2011] that it has ever been,” said Dr. Vincent Butera, Long Beach’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. “This year we anticipate the numbers will be comparable, if not higher.”

According to Butera, 91.5 percent of the students who entered the high school in 2007 graduated last June or August. Eighty-five percent of them graduated in June.

According to the State Education Department, the statewide graduation rate last year was 74 percent. “[That] number reflected only those who graduated by June of 2011,” Butera said.

He explained that several years ago, the state established a minimum graduation rate of 80 percent, part of an initiative to increase school districts’ accountability for their students’ performance.

Butera said that over the past decade, Long Beach has had graduating classes that did not meet that benchmark. From 1998 to 2006, the high school’s graduation rate ranged from 78 to 88 percent, including those who graduated in August.

Over the past four years, he added, the number of students who took college-level courses increased from fewer than 200 to roughly 500 — about 60 percent of all juniors and seniors.

“Several years ago, the … superintendent charged the administrative staff, above all, with one clear goal: to improve the level of performance in all students,” Butera said, referring to Dr. Robert Greenberg, who was superintendent from 2004 to 2011. “Our failure to meet this goal for the period between 2006 and 2009 is the number one reason why Long Beach High School was identified as a school in need of improvement.”

According to Butera, the state said that the high school did not meet its performance targets, mainly among minority students and those with special needs. But the district has been making strides, and is now considered a top school in the state.