Hobart and William Smith Colleges

The numbers tell the story when it comes to graduation from high school in our district: The high school graduation rate in Geneva has risen from 70.7% in 2010 to 82.7% in 2019. Even more impressively, our Black student graduation rate has risen from 44.8% in 2010 to 88.9% in 2019. While we celebrate the increasing advancement of students in our community, we know that these numbers must improve further. Additionally, we must acknowledge that our rate of graduation for Hispanic students is a serious concern, at only 62%, as of 2019. GCSD High School principal, Greg Baker, says it well: “Although we have made considerable progress, there is still much work to be done. The performance of the Hispanic/Latino subgroup and the English Language Learners is lagging behind their counterparts and the organization is in the process of pivoting again to better address the needs of these students. Our experience has taught us that we will need to be patient, persistent, and targeted in our approach to meeting the needs of all our students.”

In 2020, Geneva 2030 welcomed and supported the addition of a Bilingual Education Action Team dedicated to supporting Spanish + English bilingual education and successes for the bilingual population of Geneva, New York. The Action Team engages with stakeholders, reviews Geneva City School District data regarding graduation rates, and harnesses collaborative ideas with other Action Teams (attendance, school success, STEAM, literacy, and college/career readiness) to maximize potential to increase graduation rates for bilingual youth.

Our goal is to raise the graduation rate to 90 percent by 2030 for all students.

Cited: Success for Geneva's Children 2019 Data Report

In a briefing titled, What Counts: Defining and Improving High School Graduation Rates, the National Association of Secondary School Principals defines the challenge as such:

"Over the past several years, high school graduation rates in the United States have come under intense public scrutiny fueled by a renewed interest in high school reform as well as higher public school accountability requirements. It is accepted almost universally in this country that all young people must be given every opportunity to graduate from high school. Unfortunately, this goal continues to be an ideal rather than a reality in many high schools across the nation."

Additional Information

Improving High School Graduation Rates by Kylie R. Stanley and Jonathan A. Plucker; Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, Summer 2008.

Dropout Prevention: Strategies for Improving High School Graduation Rates is a briefing report prepared for the North Carolina Family Impact Seminar, Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.

Why Students Drop Out of School: A Review of 25 Years of Research by Russell Rumberger and Sun Ah Lim; California Dropout Research Project, October 2008.