Manteca and Ripon unified school district’s comprehensive high schools have significantly higher graduation rates than California as well as San Joaquin County.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Monday indicated the statewide graduation rate for 2018 was 83 percent. It is up significantly from 2010 when the California graduation rate was 74.7 percent.

Overall, San Joaquin County’s graduation rate is 81.7 percent for 2018.

On the comprehensive high school level graduation rates were:

*98.1 percent for Ripon High.

*97.6 percent for Sierra High.

*96.5 percent for Lathrop High.

*95.2 percent for Manteca High.

*94.9 percent for East Union High.

*92.2 percent for Weston Ranch High.

For the continuation high schools the graduation rates were:

*87.5 percent for Harvest High in Ripon.

*79.1 percent for Calla High in Manteca.

*76.6 percent for New Vision High in Weston Ranch.

 The rates are for cohort students or students educated at the same time and graduating together as part of the Class of 2018. It does not include students who may obtain a diploma in the summer following graduation by completing credits or do so in other manners such as passing a GED. The rates are also subject to being impacted by on how well a district keeps tabs on “dropouts” as some who transfer to other high schools and graduated in a different district may not be accounted for in the graduation rate.

At any rate students attending comprehensive high schools in the Manteca and Ripon districts on average are 15 percent more likely to graduate than the average Californian high school student.

In terms of dropout rates the state is at 2.4 percent and San Joaquin County as a whole is at 2.1 percent.

Local high school dropout rates are:

*0.1 percent for Sierra High.

*0.4 percent for East Union High.

*0.4 percent for Ripon High.

*0.4 percent for Weston Ranch High.

*0.7 percent for Lathrop High.

*0.8 percent for Manteca High.

*4.5 percent for Harvest High.

*6.7 percent for Calla High.

*12.7 percent for New Vision High.

“Our graduation rates continue to rise, reflecting the passion and dedication by educators over the past eight years to transform our education system with a more equitable funding system, higher academic standards, and more emphasis on career technical education,” Torlakson said. “Still, much work needs to be done to make certain all students graduate and to close the continuing achievement gaps between student groups.”

Torlakson also announced that suspension rates declined for the sixth consecutive year while chronic absenteeism rates rose slightly. This valuable information, he said, helps keep educators, parents, and the public informed.

In California’s high school graduating class for 2018, one out of two graduates, nearly 50 percent, met requirements for admission to either the University of California and or the California State University. This is unchanged from 2017.

Since 2007, there’s been more than a 30 percent increase in high school graduates eligible for UC and more than a 53 percent increase in CSU eligibility.

When alternative schools are excluded from the rates for the class of 2018, traditional public schools, with a rate of 91.7 percent, fare better than charter schools, which have a rate of 84.2 percent. Schools identified as "alternative" include continuation, juvenile court, and county-run special education schools, which serve students at a greater risk of dropping out.

The graduation report shows the number of high school graduates earning a State Seal of Biliteracy, which recognizes graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing one or more languages in addition to English. In 2018, 47,248 graduates earned the State Seal of Biliteracy, up from 44,594 in 2017.