Madera Unified’s graduation rate is rising

Madera Unified School District set records with its two graduation classes this year.

Madera High and Madera South High together graduated more than 1,000 seniors, which is the largest graduating class in the history of the district.

At the same time, the California Department of Education has announced that Madera Unified’s graduation rate is the highest in the district’s history and third highest among other school districts in the Valley.

District-wide, MUSD’s graduation rate has moved to 90.5 percent.

Both of the district’s high schools contributed to the record achievement. Madera High’s graduation rate moved up to 97.5 percent. This represents the fourth highest graduation rate among comprehensive high schools in the region, according to Babatunde Ilori, director of performance management and internal communications for Madera Unified.

Madera South High’s graduation rate increased to 91.9 percent.

Additionally, Madera Unified’s dropout rate declined significantly, moving down to 6.9 percent from 7.9 percent. According to the California Department of Education, this is the lowest dropout rate in Madera Unified’s history.

The only downside in the latest data from Sacramento lies in the percentage of students completing the course requirements needed for acceptance to a University of California college (UC) or California State University college (CSU). The percentage completing these courses dropped to 32.4 percent, down by 5.6 percent.

According to Ilori, “Madera Unified expects this rate to increase during the next calculation based on the current percent of 12th grade students meeting the course requirements.”