The Florida Department of Education reported Monday that the graduation rate for Sarasota County Schools for 2021-22 was 88.9 percent, a slight decline from the prior year. The district remained well above the state graduation rate of 87.3 percent; the state graduation rate decreased by 2.8 percentage points over last year. When comparing to the 2019-20 and 2020-21 graduation rates, it is important to note that pursuant to Florida Department of Education Emergency Order No. 2020-EO-1 and Florida Department of Education Emergency Order No. 2021-EO-02, students in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 graduating classes were exempt from statewide, standardized assessment requirements stipulated in s. 1003.4282, F.S. Most districts experienced a decline 2021-22 from the prior year and rates are mirroring pre-pandemic graduation rates. In 2021-22, the State of Florida is calculating and reporting the Federal Uniform Graduation rate. Federal regulations require each state to calculate a four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate, which includes standard diplomas but excludes general equivalency diplomas, known as GEDs, both regular and adult; and special diplomas. The U.S. Department of Education adopted this calculation method to develop uniform, accurate, and comparable graduation rates across all states. The Federal Uniform Graduation rate is currently used in Florida’s school accountability system in the high school grades calculation.