Graduation rates in Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley rose for the class of 2024, mirroring a statewide trend, according to Colorado Department of Education data.

St. Vrain Valley’s on-time graduation rate is 94.3%, up from 93.3% the previous year. That gives St. Vrain the highest on-time graduation rate among the state’s 10 largest school districts. Statewide, the graduation rate increased to 84.2% for on-time graduation, up from 83.1% in 2023.

For St. Vrain’s Hispanic students, the district’s four-year graduation rate went up to 90% from 88.3% the previous year. The statewide graduation rate for Hispanic students was 77.3%.

Deputy Superintendent Jackie Kapushion said graduation rates are a key indicator for the district, while improving the rate has been an “all hands on deck effort.”

“We see this result as a systemwide success related to everything we want our students to experience in St. Vrain,” she said.

To make sure students are on track to graduate, high school leadership and, new this year, middle school leadership meet regularly to go through data on students failing core classes, giving them an opportunity to provide more support.

That support includes free after-school tutoring and, for high schoolers, online credit recovery classes.

“We really believe students can achieve anything if they have the right supports to help them get there,” Kapushion said.

Other strategies include adding more advanced classes, career and technical certification classes and the option to earn an associate degree along with a high school diploma through P-TECH — or Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools — programs.

“A lot of our career pathway work plays intro graduation rates,” Kapushion said. “They can see a vision for their future and that keeps them really connected to school.”

Boulder Valley’s on-time graduation rate is 92.3%, up from 91.5% the year before and the highest it’s been in eight years.Boulder Valley’s Hispanic students graduation rate is 80.7%, about the same as the year before. For other groups, Boulder Valley saw graduation rates increase for students with disabilities by 5.2 percentage points and for economically disadvantaged students by 1.9 percentage points.

Boulder Valley Deputy Superintendent Lora de la Cruz described the district’s high graduation rate as the “culmination of many efforts across PK-12,” from work to improve attendance to providing more opportunities for students to earn college credit and get skills and trade experiences before graduation.

“We see these improvements as a testament to that work,” she said. “We have been unrelenting on our focus that every single young person deserves those opportunities. We’re beyond thrilled we’re seeing these outcomes for young people.”

Boulder Valley officials noted the district also improved its accounting practices so all students who completed graduate requirements in four years were recognized, even if some remain enrolled for a fifth year to participate in specialized programs. Those include ASCENT, which covers a year of college tuition, and Transitions, which helps students with disabilities transition to life after high school.

Dropout rates for both Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley remain under 1%. The statewide dropout rate is 1.9%, with 8,947 students leaving the education system in grades seven through 12.

St. Vrain’s overall dropout rate is 0.4%, down from 0.6% in 2023. The dropout rate for Hispanic students is 0.7%, down from 1% the year before.

Boulder Valley’s overall dropout rate dipped to 0.7%, from 0.8% the year before. When alternative schools are excluded, the district’s dropout rate falls to less than 0.5%.

Boulder Valley officials said they were especially excited to see a reduction in the Hispanic drop out rate. The district’s Hispanic dropout rate is 1.3%, down from 2.1% the previous year. The state’s drop-out rate for Hispanic students is 3.1%.

Along with systemwide supports that include every high school offering free credit recovery classes, Assistant Superintendent of School Leadership Robbyn Fernandez said, the district provides a variety of options to meet student needs. Those include alterative school options like Arapahoe Ridge, Boulder Prep and New Vista high schools, as well as online learning options.

“We know different students need different things,” she said. “We aren’t trying to make all of our learning environments look the same.”