Jefferson County saw its graduation rate improve by more than 16 points to 73 percent.
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Graduation rates among African-Americans and Hispanics are also up since 2010-11, at 9.3% and 7.3%, respectively.
Spokesman Steve Horton says they thought the district would have a higher rate, but they still feel good overall.
Most Central Florida school districts followed the state lead, posting improved graduation rates for 2015 compared with 2014.
Up 1.5 points from past year, this increase marks the highest graduation rate M-DCPS since the Florida Department of Education began tracking graduation statistics with modern methods in the late 1990s.
“This news is further evidence that Florida’s public education system is serving our students well”, state education Commissioner Pam Stewart said in an emailed statement.
In Duval, the number of high school graduates improved by 2.6 percentage points over the previous year to 76.6 percent.
In Martin County, a slight increase kept graduation rates well above the state norm, the Department of Education reported.
Orange County schools has had “great success” in getting more students to graduate on time, helped by the addition of 17 new high school counselors hired last school year, said Jesus Jara, deputy superintendent. Gent commended the district’s performance but remains adamant graduation rates must increase significantly.
Seven district-operated schools increased graduation rates by at least three percentage points.
But in 2015, the black student graduation rate was below 70 percent. Florida’s graduation rate has risen by 7.2 percentage points since 2010-11 and 18.6 percentage points since 2003-04.
More than 2,600 former Kern High School District students who finished school but never got the chance to turn their tassels on graduation day are eligible to pick up their diplomas following the suspension of the California High School Exit Examination as a graduation requirement. The difference is made up of students who have been retained, received certificates of attendance, or earned a GED.
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Florida’s graduation rate, as required under rules set by the federal government since 2011, includes only students who earned a standard diploma four years after starting high school. Hispanic students graduated at a rate of 77.9 percent in 2015, up 4.3 percentage points and 1.2 points above the state average.
