Merced Times

The graduation rate of African American students at Atwater High School in the 2017-2018 school year decreased from the previous school year’s graduation rate of 92.9 percent, according to the California Department of Education.

According to CDE data, graduation rates indicate an increase in disproportional academic performance between white, Black, Latino, and English learner students.

According to the National Centre for Education Statistics, in the 2017-2018 school year, of the 50 states where data was collected, students with disabilities were at the bottom of 4-year high school graduation rates by student group.

Angela Johnson, a research scientist at NWEA, says “taken together, prior research suggests that inequities exist in the quality of education experienced by current ELs and non-ELs and that these inequities explain achievement gaps in middle and early high school” in The Effects of English Learner Classification on High School Graduation and College Attendance.

Ranking	Student Group	Graduation Rate 2017-2018	Previous Year Graduation Rate 2016-2017
1	Filipino	100	100
1	Foster Youth	100	50
1	Two or More Races	100	100
4	Socioeconomically Disadvantaged	89.3	85.4
5	Hispanic or Latino	89	85.4
6	White	84.2	81.9
7	Asian	81.8	92
8	Black or African American	80	92.9
9	Students with Disabilities	46.4	41.2
10	English Learners	36.4	36.7
11	American Indian or Alaska Native	0	50
11	Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander	0	100