High school in Melbourne, FL — Jesse Kunerth – Courtesy: Shutterstock
The Florida counties that have the greatest rate of high school dropouts is depicted on a map.
Newsweek determined which of Florida’s 67 counties had the greatest rate of dropouts by analyzing the most recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, which tracked the number of persons aged 25 and older with at least a high school diploma.
With a population of almost 40,000, Hendry County had the highest dropout rate, at 31 percent.
A comparatively high percentage of leavers was also observed in other minor counties in Florida: DeSoto and Glades Counties had 27 percent, Hamilton County had 23%, Union and Hardee Counties had 22%, and so forth.
Only 5 percent of people in three major counties—Leon, Okaloosa, and St. Johns—did not have at least a high school degree.
Just 16 percent of people live in Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida with over 2.6 million citizens, without a high school certificate.
In Broward County, the second most populous county with about 2 million residents, the percentage of those without a high school graduation is under 11 percent.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said earlier this year that the state’s 2022–2023 graduation rate had reached an all-time high of 88 percent.
In a statement released in January, DeSantis stated, “Florida’s graduation rate continues to climb because our educators place a sole focus on academics in the classroom.” “Whether Florida students choose a four-year university or non-traditional post-secondary learning, they will have built a strong foundation to set them up for success.”
Despite the state’s rising teacher shortage, a National Education Association research found that teachers in the state had practically the lowest average salary of any state that year.
While chronic absence rates have skyrocketed recently, Florida is having difficulty recruiting and retaining teachers at a time when pupils are still trying to recover from the severe learning setbacks brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Jennifer Lansford, a research professor of public policy at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, adolescents who drop out of high school may experience negative consequences well into adulthood.
“The long-term consequences of dropping out of high school can be very negative for individuals who drop out, their families, and society as a whole,” Lansford stated.
She cited studies she and her colleagues conducted using data from kids who were tracked from five to twenty-seven years old.
According to that study, people who dropped out of high school had over four times the likelihood of receiving government assistance, twice the likelihood of having been fired twice or more, and more than three times the likelihood of having been arrested since they were eighteen.
Click here to see the rest of schools on the list.
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Chris began his writing as a hobby while attending Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Today he and his wife live in the Orlando area with their three children and dog.
