Despite learning remotely for most of last year, more than 2,000 students graduated from Buffalo Public Schools – the largest class in years.
Buffalo, which had a graduation rate of 76% in 2020, improved to 79% last year.
The overall graduation rate in New York State public and charter schools also increased slightly last year, the second year of pandemic schooling.
The statewide rate went up 1 percentage point to 86%, capping a decade of steady increases, state Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa said Wednesday, although she acknowledged that the cancellation of Regents exams last year had an impact.
Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash predicted in 2020 that the district would meet its graduation rate goal of 70%. He noted at the time that some failing city high schools closed, while several new schools were performing well and would graduate their first class of students in June 2020.
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They didn’t quite make it that year, but last year the rate jumped 11 percentage points to 76%.
“I’m encouraged with what we were able to do,” Cash said.
He said the district hired a date cohort tracker for each of the high schools to figure out what each student needs to graduate.
“We had waited too long,” Cash said. “You can't wait until students are in the 12th grade to begin working with that senior class, you have to work when they come in the 9th grade.”
The district also redesigned several high schools that graduated their second classes last year.
The graduation rates in small city schools in Erie and Niagara counties were mixed, with North Tonawanda down 9 percentage points and Lackawanna down 5 points, while Niagara Falls jumped 10 points to 77%.
The cancellation of Regents exams in 2020 and 2021 was likely a factor in the graduation rates, Rosa said.
“This change affected this year’s graduation rate, but we cannot say to what extent,” she said.
Students usually need to accumulate 22 course credits and pass at least four Regents exams to graduate. Because of the learning disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the state Education Department canceled Regents exams, except four last June that were required by federal law. It also exempted students who passed the course from exam requirements for a Regents diploma.
But students shouldn't count on getting so lucky this year.
"As we speak today, our Regents exams are scheduled to be given this June and August," Rosa said.
Cash said he is concerned about students passing this year’s Regents exams.
“This, actually, has been one of the toughest years now that we are back in school,'' he said.
Racial disparities
In Buffalo Public Schools, the gap between Black and white students was nearly eliminated in 2021. The graduation rate for Black students increased about 3 percentage points, to 79%; the rate among white students decreased about 1 percentage point, to 80%.
Across the state as a whole, the graduation rate for those two groups experienced comparable changes – but the gap statewide remains significant, with 90% of white students graduating, compared with 80% of Black students.
In Buffalo Public Schools, the graduation rate for Hispanic students increased 7 percentage points – but, at 73%, remains significantly below that of Black and white students.
The statewide graduation rate for students with disabilities was 65%, up more than 2 percentage points. There was an increase in the number of students with disabilities earning Regents diplomas and a corresponding decrease in those earning local diplomas, which the state attributed to the Regents exam exemptions.
100% graduate from 2 schools
Two schools in Erie County had all of their students graduate last year, the Charter School for Applied Technologies and Holland Central High School.
And while Holland increased its rate, some rural schools did not. The rate in Wilson dropped 10 percentage points from last year, Akron was down 5 points and Royalton-Hartland was down 4 percentage points.
The graduation rate for rural, high-needs districts went down 1 percentage point statewide to 85%, although state officials cautioned that was just one year’s data.
“Early on in the pandemic, we certainly had a concern about the equity issue around the digital equity,” Rosa said. “This is a serious concern for our department as we move forward into the next phase.”
The pandemic exacerbated inequities and opportunities for many students, Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young Jr. said.
"Achievement may be a misnomer. Every student can achieve when given the opportunity to do so," he said. "We need to address the barriers to opportunities."
