PUSD's Graduation Rate Impressive Compared to State Figures

graduated all but one of the 194 students that entered high school with the class of 2010. was similarly successful, with 33 out of 34 students that began ninth grade in fall 2006 graduating.

The Piedmont Unified School District, with an overall 99.1 percent graduation rate and .9 percent dropout rate, stands out in comparison to the rest of the state, which had a graduation rate of just 74.7 percent and an 18.2 percent dropout rate according to new figures released by the state's Department of Education. The remaining 7.4 percent of California students were still enrolled after four years of high school, were non-diploma special education students, or had passed the GED.

PUSD's graduation rate was also the best in Alameda County—Pleasanton, Castro Valley, Dublin, and Albany were the only other districts that graduated more than 90 percent of their students.

The district's success appears even more remarkable in comparison to the surrounding Oakland Unified School District where only 53.4 of the class of 2010 graduated and 37 percent dropped out, making it the worst performing in the county and among the worst in the state.

While Piedmont's total cohort was 69 percent white and 21 percent, Oakland's was 44 percent African American and 29 percent Hispanic. Statewide, a significant graduation rate gap persists between African American and Hispanic students and their peers.

"It is encouraging that about 4,700 more Hispanics graduated in 2010, by far the largest increase by any other subgroup of students," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in a press release. "Most troubling are the 59.0 percent graduation rate among African American students and the 56.3 percent graduation rate among English learners."