The 2022 California School Dashboard has restarted for the first time since before the pandemic. And it shows that graduation rates hit all-time highs for the previous school year. It’s up four points from 2021, at 87-percent. And it’s 89-percent for the Nevada Joint Union High School District. But District Superintendent Dan Frisella is disappointed to see state test scores lagging. The state put the district in the “low” category, with scores 35-points below the standard for English Language Arts and 86-points under for Math. But he also mentions that the district is unique, with students tested just once…

click to listen to Dan Frisella

Meanwhile, Frisella notes that the district’s suspension rate has dropped from eight-percent in 2019 to four-point-seven percent for the previous school year. He credits state proposition funding for the hiring of what’s called a “restorative practices coordinator”…

click to listen to Dan Frisella

Frisella says the most common suspension infractions are usually for fighting and drug, alcohol, and tobacco use. And, statewide, as you might expect, there was a high absenteeism rate of 30-percent, double the previous year. That mirrored trends in other states where schools continued to experience the effects of the pandemic.