Denfeld High lifts Native graduation rate to 74%

Denfeld High School’s Native graduation rate climbed to 74%, a 12-point increase that put Duluth’s southwest-side school five points above Minnesota’s statewide average and turned a long-running equity problem into one of the district’s clearest gains.

The numbers matter beyond one school. Minnesota’s Class of 2025 posted a record 84.9% four-year graduation rate, the highest in state history, but Native students still graduated at a much lower rate than the statewide average. At Denfeld, the improvement was sharper: the school’s overall graduation rate reached 84.77% in 2025, up 7.85 percentage points from the previous year, while Duluth Public Schools said American Indian students rose 11.57 percentage points. The district also reported big jumps for students facing other barriers, including a 28.21-point increase for homeless students and an 11.92-point increase for students eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

Principal Tom Tusken is at the center of that turnaround. He has worked in Duluth Public Schools since 1995 and spent much of that time at Denfeld in roles that included social studies teacher, ninth-grade BARR coordinator, dean of students and assistant principal. His approach has leaned on systems that try to catch problems early rather than wait for students to fail. Those tools include BARR, PBIS, Check and Connect, professional learning communities and co-teaching, all aimed at building relationships, tracking attendance and grades, and keeping students connected to adults at school.

The strategy shows up in students’ stories. Antonio Brown, a senior, described a rocky high school path that improved as he became more focused on sports, grades and staying eligible to compete. Family stress also complicated his path after his father was nearly killed in a car accident, a reminder that academic progress often depends on what is happening far from the classroom.

Another Denfeld senior, Jayden Wise, was honored at an Indigenous high school graduates banquet in Duluth on May 28 and is headed to Crown College in the Twin Cities on a football scholarship. His next step underscores what school leaders are trying to produce, not just a higher graduation rate, but graduates with a plan after Denfeld.

Whether the gains hold will depend on whether the school keeps the same structure in place. Tusken’s long tenure gives Denfeld continuity, and the district’s emphasis on Check and Connect mentors, staff collaboration and family outreach suggests this was not a one-year push. The broader test now is whether those supports can be sustained at Denfeld and adapted across Duluth and St. Louis County, where Native graduation outcomes have long carried outsized policy significance.