Graduation Rates Drop in City Schools

By WXXI Staff Reports

Rochester, NY – The Rochester City School District's average graduation rate for 2009 is down six percentage points from the previous school year.

School Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard says the decrease is largely due to new, and more rigorous, state graduation requirements.

The average city schools graduation rate dropped to 46-percent, but Brizard says the state report does include some good news.

The state report showed that only six schools in the city had graduation rates higher than 50-percent. Those schools were the Global Media Arts High School and the Bioscience and Health Career High School at Franklin - the Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School - the School of Imaging and Information Technology at Edison - School of the Arts - and School Without Walls.

On Thursday, Brizard will release his proposed "Portfolio of Schools." That plan is set to include numerous school closings - a move toward K through 8 schools instead of the K through 6 schools now in existence - four autonomous schools - and a charter school.