Ore. graduation rate improves, still one of worst in nation

Delaware’s graduation rate jumped 6.6 percentage points to 87 percent and Alabama’s rose 6.3 percentage points to 86.3 percent.

Twenty-eight states saw the gap between black and white students close between those years, and a whopping 32 states saw it close between white and Hispanic students.

But fewer than half of states saw gaps shrink between low-income children and their more affluent peers; between English language learners and native English speakers; and between children with disabilities and all students. Not counted: Students who earned special ed diplomas and students who qualified for diplomas but had them withheld a year so they could get a year of free community college.

The data offers one bit of bad news as well: The graduation rate gap between economically disadvantaged students and all other students stayed the same or increased in more states than it decreased in the 2013-2014 year.

The report is a first look at preliminary graduation rates reported by states for the 2013-14 school year. Oregon reported a 72 percent graduation rate compared with 68.7 percent in the prior year. The District of Columbia also slipped.

The numbers show the District of Columbia with the lowest graduation rate, 61.4 percent. The nation’s overall graduation rate stands at 81 percent, an all-time high.

The best rates were in Iowa (91 percent), Nebraska (90) and New Jersey (89), the federal education department said.

The National Center for Education Statistics is expected to release final graduation data in the coming months.

In Oregon’s class of 2013, 76 percent earned a diploma within five years of starting high school and another 8 percent reenrolled for a sixth year of high school, with the possibility of earning a diploma at age 20 or 21.

“While these gains are promising, we know that we have a long way to go in improving educational opportunities for every student – no matter their zip code – for the sake of our young people and our nation’s economic strength”, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said.

Duncan is retiring from his post in December to return home to Illinois and his family.