How the Hempstead school district nearly doubled its graduation rate in 10 years

When Stephen Strachan arrived at Hempstead High in late 2014, the new principal was under pressure to turn the school around.

At the time, just one out of every two students left the high school with a diploma. Deemed “persistently struggling,” meaning it failed to meet academic benchmarks for at least 10 years, the school was placed on the state's receivership list in July 2015. Officials were given one year to improve.

The school was restored to good academic standing in 2023. And figures from the state Education Department show that in the past decade, the school's graduation rate has nearly doubled to 84%.

Sitting in his office last week, Strachan said his goal when he came to Hempstead was to change “a culture of failure.”

“I feel like we did that," he said.

Long Island's overall high school graduation rate have ranged from 89.7% to 92.6% over the past 10 years. The figures include those who graduated in June and August within four years. In 2025, 91.7% of all public high school students earned their diploma, above the state average of 85.5%, according to a Newsday analysis of the latest data released by the state. 

For some, a high school diploma is almost a given. In Cold Spring Harbor and Riverhead Charter School, every student of its senior cohort graduated by last August.

About a quarter of the Island's 103 public high schools graduated less than 90% of their senior class in 2025, however. Eighteen performed below the state average. The district with the lowest graduation rate was Wyandanch at 64%.

A review of the data reveals success stories as well. In addition to Hempstead, the Westbury and Brentwood districts were among those that showed significant gains in their graduation rates — a credit, educators said, to increased interventions and new initiatives aimed at helping struggling students.

The way Strachan sees it, a high school diploma carries great weight.

Most of his students come from low-income families. Some are recent immigrants and many would be the first in their family to graduate high school. The credential, he believes, would help level the opportunities available to them after they leave his campus.

“It's a moral obligation to ensure that our students earn their high school diploma," he said.

From kindergarten to graduation day

Strachan, a minister at a Queens church when he's not in school, has been the principal of Hempstead High for most of the past decade. Under his tenure, the school has undergone sweeping changes.

Student schedules have been restructured, the number of eighth graders taking Regents courses has expanded and the school has increased Advanced Placement offerings. It created a bridge program to help eighth graders transition into high school and established a college and career center decorated with pennants of colleges near and far. A dress code was implemented to minimize student distractions and the workload was reduced for guidance counselors, allowing the staffers to spend more time with each student.

For students who are struggling, there is night school, Saturday school and summer school to help them make up the work.

Under current rules, students generally need to earn 22 credits and must pass at least four Regents exams to get their diplomas.

When Strachan came to Hempstead, only about 27% of its ninth graders ended their freshman year with three or more credits, the principal said. These days, more than 70% of its students advance to 10th grade with at least five credits, he said.

Hempstead Superintendent Gary Rush said the district has started preparing students for graduation when they enter kindergarten.

“We really trained our thinking more to look longitudinally at what we're doing, not just to, say, look at a fourth grader and prepare them for fifth grade,” he said.

Although graduation rates have improved, the district continues to perform below state averages on Regents exams and state tests in English and math for grades three-eight. The district has also had a state-appointed monitor since 2020 to help it raise academic achievement.

Preventing dropouts

The reasons that high school students drop out can vary. Generally, educators look at attendance, grades and behavior as indicators of disengagement, which can lead to students failing to earn their degrees, said Sandy Addis, chairman of the National Dropout Prevention Center in upstate Ballston Spa.

“They withdraw over time,” he said. “They attend less. They cause a little more trouble. They make poor grades. And then one day, they just say, ‘I'm getting in trouble. I haven’t been here very much. … I'm old enough. And I'm gone.' ”

Expanded Career and Technical Education programs and, in some cases, tightening the eligibility for extracurricular activities based on academic performance can help boost graduation rates, according to educators.

Addis gave the example of a teenage boy interested in auto mechanics.

“If he can't wait to get his hands under the car in an auto shop and figure out what's going on and play with it, … he will go to school,” Addis said. “He'll even put up with English and history to get to do that.”

In the Brentwood district, where graduation rates have risen by 9 percentage points since 2021 to 83%, Superintendent Wanda Ortiz-Rivera said the high school has two counselors dedicated to dropout prevention. It also recently began a program for 10th graders with attendance issues that allows them to learn in a smaller class setting and receive more one-on-one attention.

The district has also expanded its Career and Technical Education offerings, adding a construction program in which students can get a job in a local union after graduation.

“School is not only just about kids going to school and getting a diploma and making sure that they have the 22 credits for graduation,” Ortiz-Rivera said. “That is no longer that way. Our students are seeing high school with a very different lens.”

In Westbury, the graduation rate has risen by 11 percentage points in the past decade to 90.9% in 2025. Superintendent Tahira DuPree Chase said the district has placed an emphasis on “personalizing” the student experience.

The school tries to connect students with at least one adult in the building, said Brendan Gallivan, assistant superintendent for secondary curriculum and instruction. Educators have said those connections allow staffers to check in on students, who in turn may feel they are accountable to someone if they miss school.

David Zimbler, principal at Westbury High School, said it's important to get to know students and find ways to remove barriers preventing them from attending class.

“You may have a senior who has to work, so period eight and nine in his school day schedule is a problem. And maybe that's why he stopped coming to school,” he said. “The program and a schedule should work for the child, not the opposite.”

For a student like that, Zimbler said they may be allowed to take a shorter lunch break or find other ways to restructure their schedule.

In pursuit of a better life

During an AP calculus class at Hempstead High School last week, Strachan asked who among the class would be a first-generation graduate. Most hands shot up.

Among those who raised their hands was senior Josue Yanes, a son of Salvadoran immigrants. The teen said his parents did not finish primary school and left their native land for the United States in the 1990s to pursue a better life.

“They came here and sacrificed what they had over where they came from for us,” said the 17-year-old, who has a younger brother. “I want to continue that wish that they have [of a better life]. And graduating helps me pursue that.”

Senior Bianca Roberts, 17, said a high school diploma would set an example for her younger siblings, including a new baby on the way, since she would be the first in her family to graduate.

The teen said she plans to study nursing in college but has aspirations to push her career  further.

“I don't want to stop at nursing,” she said. “I definitely want to go beyond that.”