City high school graduation rates continued to climb last year, rising to almost 82 percent — but critics have highlighted the role of shifting standards in aiding the hike.
The New York State Education Department has modified graduation requirements more than a dozen times in recent years and canceled most previously required Regents exams due to the pandemic.
“The necessary Regents Exam exemptions were a factor in the 2016 and 2017 Cohort graduation rates; however, the Department cannot say to what extent,” NYSED officials said in a statement Wednesday.
The agency did so to “ensure students were not unfairly impacted by circumstances created by the pandemic.”
The change allowed students to graduate by passing classes associated with the tests.
“The increase is welcome,” said Brooklyn College and CUNY Grad Center education professor David Bloomfield. “Though concerns remain that the increase is based on COVID-related considerations rather than improved academic performance and subject mastery.”
The 2.3 percent increase in graduation rates for the nation’s largest school system tracks with marked increases since 2005, when less than half of city kids walked the stage.
Department of Education officials have highlighted other metrics — like college enrollment — as independent evidence of advancement.
As has become custom, the city’s Asian students had the highest overall graduation rate at 91 percent. Whites were second at 82 percent, followed by black students at 79 percent and Hispanics at 78 percent.
White city kids were the only group to see a decline from the prior year, dipping by 2 percent.
Latino students had the highest increase at 4 percent, followed by black kids at 3 percent and Asians at 2 percent, according to the state.
About 20 states — including California and Florida — saw their graduation rates ebb slightly last year.
Statewide, graduation rates went up from 84.8 to 86.1 percent.
“Graduation rates are one metric we use to identify where inequities exist so we can better support our students and education communities,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young in a statement.