State of the Schools highlights graduation rates, AP and technical course success

Last week, Orange County Public Schools held its annual State of the Schools address, highlighting some of the successes the school district has seen this year. Here are some highlights from the address:

Over the past 15 years, the graduation rate at 19 traditional high schools in OCPS has risen from 49% to 90%.

Superintendent Barbara Jenkins thanked tax payers for the half-cent sales tax, which allows OCPS to keep up with the growth in student population. 

Also, for three of the past five years, OCPS has been named to the College Board’s AP Honor Roll, awarded to the top 4% of AP-performing school districts in the U.S. There is increased participation in AP programs and an increase of the students passing the end-of-course exams, allowing students to obtain college credit. 

More than 24,000 high school students across OCPS are enrolled in Career Technical Educational courses, up by 18% from just over two years ago when Mike Armbruster took over the programs. These programs are offered on high school campuses, taking away the need for students to leave their high school campuses. Recently, OCPS rebranded the technical centers as Orange Technical College.

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].