Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) has announced that its percentage of students who graduated on time from traditional high schools increased in 2024, according to data released by the Florida Department of Education.
The county’s total 2024 graduation rate for all publicly funded schools with 12th graders, including charter schools and alternative programs such as the Department of Juvenile Justice, was 84.1%, a slight decrease from last year’s 84.2%.
Counting only ACPS’s seven traditional high schools, the district’s collective graduation rate was 92.7%, up from 90.2% in 2023. Buchholz, Eastside, Gainesville, Hawthorne, Newberry, Professional Academies Magnet (PAM) @ Loften and Santa Fe High Schools make up the list of traditional high schools.
“We are proud of the gains made by our traditional high schools, which serve the vast majority of our students,” said Superintendent Dr. Kamela Patton in a press release. “We are going to be very focused on ensuring all students in Alachua County are graduating on time.”
The Class of 2024 reached higher graduation rates than the previous year at five of the seven traditional high schools.
Gainesville High School recorded the largest increase, with a rate of 93.6% in 2024, up from 82.5% in 2023.
The Professional Academies Magnet@Loften High School can boast highest overall rate, with 100% of its seniors graduating on time, compared to 94.1% in 2023.
Buchholz High School increased its on time graduation rate from 95.6% to 96.1%, Eastside rose from 86.7% to 89%, and Newberry High School rose from 94.4% to 96.8%.
Hawthorne High School’s graduation rate decreased from 90.6% to 82%, and Santa Fe High School fell from last year’s 89.9% to 86.4%.
Sidney Lanier School, a special center serving students with disabilities from kindergarten through 12th grade, graduated 100% of its seniors in 2024.
The Alachua eSchool earned a 61% graduation rate.
The state also released total district rates—including traditional and non-traditional schools—for different subgroups in Alachua County.
Exceptional Student Education (ESE) student graduation was 76.5% in 2024, and students receiving free and reduced lunches’ graduation rate was 75.6%. The graduation rate for students whose native language is not English was 78.5%, and.
The at-risk student graduation rate was 11.8%, though the cohort itself contained only 17 students, split between the A. Quinn Jones Center, Hawthorne High School, Buchholz High School, AMIKids, PACE, Siatech MYcroSchool, North Central Florida Public Charter School and Alachua Regional Juvenile Detention Center.
Across the district’s traditional and non-traditional schools together, the graduation rate for white students was 88.4%, while Black students reached a 75.9% graduation rate, Hispanic students reached an 86% graduation rate, and Asian students reached a 98.1% graduation rate. Students of two or more races reached a graduation rate of 82.1% in Alachua County.