Report: Marshall Fundamental, PHS and John Muir Each Saw More Than 92% of Seniors Graduate Last Year

Pasadena’s overall high school graduation rate dropped in the 2022-2023 school year, according to the data presented by Pasadena Unified School District staff on Thursday.

Interim Chief Academic Officer Helen Hill’s presentation to the Board of Education reported that 84.8 % of last school year’s class graduated on time, lower than the  88.7 %  recorded for the 2021-2022 class.

Hill explained the graduation rate was high in 2021-2022 because California passed legislation that allowed for any third or fourth year students who were not on track to graduate.

“At that point in time [those students] were already demonstrating some credit deficiency.” 

“They were permitted to graduate under the California State minimum requirements instead of the local requirements.”

Hill said the District is working to ensure that those who have credit deficiency are being tracked to ensure that the students have the counseling support and the opportunities to recapture their credit.

Hill said additional counselors have already been deployed at CIS Academy and Rose City High School to ensure students will be assisted and any kind of credit recovery planning will be done early.

Rose City High School has the lowest graduation rate at 47.3%. CIS Academy was second to the lowest with a 63.9 % graduation rate. 

The three high schools with the highest graduation rate are Marshall Fundamental (96.2%), Pasadena High School (93.5%) and John Muir High School (92.4%).

According to Hill, the District has increased credit recovery opportunities for students throughout the school year to increase the District’s graduation rate. 

She said the District expects to have an increase in graduation rate this school year. 

In the 2022-2023 school year, the District recorded a dropout rate of 7.9 %, lower than the 9.1% recorded in the previous year. 

Hill said the District has already provided a Dropout Prevention Specialist to Rose City High School, which recorded a dropout rate of 33.3% for the 2022-2023 school year, the highest among the District high schools. 

Blair High School recorded a 15.4 % dropout rate while CIS Academy recorded a 13% dropout rate. 

Marshall Fundamental has the lowest dropout rate at 1.1%.