The Florida Department of Education released official graduation rates for the 2023-24 school year on January 9, 2025. The graduation rate data reflects the success of the cohort of students who entered 9th grade in the Fall of 2020 and graduated in the Spring of 2024.
Florida’s graduation rate increased from 88.0% in 2023 to 89.7% in 2024. Putnam County’s graduation rate increased from 88.9% to 91.2%, a jump of 2.3 percentage points. This marks the fifth consecutive year the district has outperformed the State average.
“Our students, staff, and community have one more thing to be proud of,” stated Superintendent Rick Surrency. “To have a district graduation rate above 90% and consistently outperform Florida’s rate is a great achievement. It shows the commitment our district has to continuous improvement.”
Many individual schools increased their graduation rates from 2023 to 2024 and the majority have a rate above 90%. Putnam Virtual School earned a 100% graduation rate for the first time ever, a dramatic increase from their rate of 30% in 2019.
Individual School Graduation Rates | 2024 |
|---|---|
Crescent City Jr.-Sr. High School | 97.4% |
Interlachen Jr.-Sr. High School | 90.9% |
Mellon Learning Center | 77.8% |
Palatka Jr.-Sr. High School | 87.5% |
Putnam Virtual School | 100% |
Q.I. Roberts Jr.-Sr. High School | 98.1% |
The graduation rate for Palatka Jr.-Sr. High School increased from 85.6% in 2023 to 87.5% in 2024. In her second year as principal, Cathy Oyster is excited about the newly released data. “We celebrate many successes at Palatka Jr.-Sr. and continuing to increase our graduation rate shows dedication to our students and collaboration between our school, our families, and the community. We look forward to building on this growth and celebrating more successes in the future.”
Amber Symonds is the principal of Interlachen Jr.-Sr. High School and also in her second year as principal. Their graduation rate is back above 90% and according to Symonds the school has very strong systems in place to help students graduate on time. “I’m extremely grateful to have staff at IJSHS who go above and beyond to help our students meet all of their graduation requirements. It’s a team effort, and I’m proud of our students and the school.”
The Putnam County School District is in the fourth year of a five year strategic plan implementing the district’s vision to prepare all students for success in college, career, and life.
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