By Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
High school seniors in Hillsborough Township last year completed their schooling at a higher rate than the previous three graduating classes, according to data released by the state., Earlier this month, the state Department of Education released the 2016 graduation rates for the more than 600 school districts under its purview. According to their numbers, 562 of the 581 seniors at Hillsborough High School graduated after four years., With a 96.73 percent graduation rate in 2016, district administrators touted the figure’s uptake from the three previous graduating classes, which saw a 95.08 percent grad rate in 2013, a 95.07 percent graduation rate in 2014 and a 94.48 percent graduation rate in 2015., “I am pleased to see Hillsborough High School’s four year graduation rate continuing to improve,” Superintendent Dr. Jorden Schiff said., The state data also broke down those graduation numbers based on ethnicity, economic status at home and disabilities., According to the state Department of Education, 414 out of 423 white students graduated, while 29 of the 34 Hispanic students and 93 of the 94 Asian seniors accomplished the same goal. Students coming from an economically disadvantaged home saw 44 out of 51 seniors graduate. Of the 73 seniors with disabilities last year, 62 graduated., The state did not, however, provide graduation data for African-American, American Indian, Native Hawaiian or students with two or more races. Additional data was also unavailable for students with limited English proficiency., For those missing data sets, a district spokesperson said the state Department of Education often will “withhold information from release when a demographic may be small and therefore those in the demographic could possibly be identified.”, Along with the Hillsborough data, the DOE said that the state’s overall high school graduation rate increased for the fifth consecutive year, with a 90.1 percent in 2016 versus a 89.7 percent in 2015., State-wide, African-American students saw a 13.1 percent increase from 2011 to 2016 with a graduation rate of 82.1 percent from 69 percent. Hispanic students graduated last year at a rate or 83.4 percent, marking a 10.4 percent increase from 2011 when it was 73 percent., Approximately 94.2 percent of Caucasian students graduated in 2016, marking an increase from the 90 percent in 2011, while 96.7 percent of Asian students graduated last year compared to the 93 percent in 2011., Last year, economically disadvantaged students graduated at a rate of 82.7 percent in 2016, marking an increase of 11.7 percentage points from 2011, when it was 71 percent. State data also showed that 74.7 percent of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students graduated in 2016, which was an increase of 6.7 percentage points from 68 percent in 2011 and students with disabilities graduated at a rate of 78.8 percent in 2016, an increase from 73 percent in 2011., Earlier this year, district officials discussed high school graduation rates as they related to a perceived achievement gap between its white students and non-white students., At that time, officials cited data from the 2014-15 Public School Report Card for Hillsborough High School, which showed at the time that its graduation rate exceeded the state’s target of 78 percent., In those numbers, approximately 99 percent of the district’s Asian pupils graduated. Similarly, 95 percent of the district’s White students graduated that year. African-American and Asian students, however, graduated at a rate of 87 percent., Of those that graduated, 86 percent of the district’s seniors went on to post-secondary education and stayed there for 16 months. The state-wide target is 78.5 percent., In the district, Asian-American and White students that continued on to college did so at a rate of 93 percent and 85 percent, respectively, while 79 percent of Hispanic students continued their education. African-American students did not factor in that data set., Dr. Schiff said the district’s increasing graduation rates were a reflection of the work that goes on in its classrooms., “Teachers, staff and administrators throughout the district do an incredible job at identifying and providing each student with the tools and instruction that they need to make them successful,” he said.
