Orange County Department of Education Newsroom
by Ian Hanigan
Even through a pandemic, Orange County’s high school graduation rate continued to climb, hitting a high of 91.4 percent in 2021. And about 57 percent of those recent graduates met UC or CSU admission requirements, exceeding the state’s average and representing a 14-point jump over a decade.
Those were among the educational trends and takeaways from the latest Orange County Community Indicators report, which made its debut Tuesday at an Orange County Business Council luncheon.
“I was really surprised and impressed with how well Orange County’s education system did under a very challenging environment,” OCBC Chief Economic Advisor Dr. Wallace Walrod, who helped draft the report, told an audience of business and community leaders at The Westin Anaheim Resort. “In the report there were some specific grade levels and areas where there were some declines, but in general there was tremendous success in pivoting under very difficult circumstances. So it was the performance of our educational system that surprised me the most, in a positive way.”
