National data shows Michigan high school graduation improving, but below US average

The graduation rate is calculated by using a formula in which the number of graduates in a given year is divided by the number of students who enrolled four years earlier.

A new U.S. Department of Education report says Ohio’s overall high-school graduation rate of about 82 percent is even with the national average.

Included in the report are numbers that show the gap between white students and black and Hispanic students receiving high school diplomas has continued to narrow. Among black students the graduation rate was 69 percent, and 73 percent of Hispanic students graduated.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised the improvement but said too many students still leave school without a diploma. For white students, the rate was 92.2 percent. Asian students have the highest rate at 89.4 percent. “We can take pride as a nation in knowing that we’re seeing promising gains, including for students of color”.

Among students with limited proficiency in English, Nevada’s rate of 28.6 percent was better only better than Arizona’s 18 percent.

Iowa had the highest graduation rate while the District of Columbia was at the bottom of the list. AP material published by LongIsland.com, isdone so with explicit permission. This includes the preparation of derivative works of, or the incorporation of such content intoother works.

See below for more of our reporting on the graduation rate.