Graduation rates rose by 47 percent over the past five years, according to Government figures.

Rates released by the Ministry of Education reveal an increase from 33 percent in 2004, to 80 percent this year.

The number is based on students who enrolled in S1 and graduated at the end of the 2009 school year.

CedarBridge Academy graduated 77 percent of its students in June and another two percent after summer school a total of 78 percent.

The Berkeley Institute saw 75 percent of its students graduate that same month, with an additional six percent after summer school a total of 81 percent.

In order for students to graduate, they must receive 104 credits, attain a 2.0 grade point average (GPA) and do a required amount of community service. The requirements were implemented two years ago.

Said Education Minister El James: "Well, the numbers are good if you look at the number of people that have followed that system and have had the opportunity to graduate from our schools. Realistically I would like to have seen everyone [even prior to two years ago], graduated with a 2.0 GPA or better. We didn't lower the standards.

"However, from this point we are raising the bar. In order to graduate, they have to enter a 2.0 or better."

The Ministry also released rates using S4 as a denominator for graduates.

The rate at CedarBridge was announced as 97 percent, with a further two percent graduating after summer school.

Ninety-one percent of Berkeley students graduated in June, with another seven percent graduating after summer school.

The total combined graduation rate for S4 students in both schools, was recorded as 99 percent.

Director of Academics Llewellyn Simmons explained how the results were calculated.

"If you calculate in S1, you will have more with those students who were removed or transferred to other schools over the course of when they began in S1. So when you look at it from the perspective of the S4 students, again I have comparable things going on. With this group of students, nine times out of ten they're all geared to finish."

"This year's graduation rates mark the first time that the data can be compared to previous years. The comparisons should be that this year, average rate is up from last year. We can say that even for this year, we have had a larger percentage of our students graduating 2.0 and above."

Education Commissioner Wendy McDonnell said: "There's been a really concentrated effort to keep the students in school to ensure that we have full graduation in S4. We are working with parents to keep them in the loop. We are now bringing that into S1.

"We have contracts with these parents [and] class monitoring so they're not going to get lost. We're paying close attention to full intervention."

In 2004 and 2005, the graduation rate for those who started in S4 was 33 percent. It rose in 2006 to 41 percent, but decreased in 2007 to 38 percent.

In 2008, the number drastically rose to 71 percent.

Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy principals Michelle Simmons and Kalmar Richards were yesterday unavailable to comment on the marked improvement.

Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons said: "The graduation statistics show improvement from last year, yet we still have to ask how meaningful they can be when we've just been told that half the black male students in one of the senior schools drop out before they graduate.

"We recall that in 2008, the graduation statistics suggested dramatic improvement from the dismal levels in 2007. However at the same time, Terra Nova results, while admittedly a different benchmark, showed no appreciable change.

"Hopefully in future years the Cambridge Curriculum will provide not only an internationally recognised standard, but also a more meaningful basis for assessing student performance in our public schools."

He continued: "Given the difficulty of properly interpreting these graduation results, we call for an independent standards board separate from the Ministry of Education that would be responsible not only for school performance evaluation but also for making sure that reported graduation and student performance results are valid, consistent and meaningful for the benefit of parents and the public."