High school graduation rates have reached a record high of 83.2 percent, continuing a steady increase that shows improvement across all ethnic groups, the White House said Monday.
President Barack Obama planned to talk about the gains when he visits a Washington, D.C. high school on Monday morning.
Increases in the graduation rate for the 2014-2015 school year were seen for all ethnic groups, as well as for disabled students and students from low-income families.
Still, there were significant differences among groups. Asian Americans had a 90.2 percent graduation rate, while whites were at 87.6 percent, followed by Hispanics at 77.8 percent, African-Americans at 74.6 percent and Native Americans at 71.6 percent.
The growth in graduation rates has been steady since states adopted a uniform way of tracking students. In 2008, the Bush administration ordered states to begin using a formula that is considered a more accurate count of how many actually finish school.
The White House said that the graduation rate has increased by about 4 percent points since the 2010-2011 school year. Obama frequently cites the increase when he talks to groups about progress made during his presidency.
The White House said that money invested through a grant program called Race to the Top has helped improve some of the nation’s lowest-performing schools. The administration also said millions of students have gained access to high-speed broadband in their classrooms and that the states and federal government have helped hundreds of thousands more children gain access to preschool education programs.
The White House said that the District of Columbia made the most progress in 2014-2015 compared to the previous year. The District improved its graduation rate by 7 percentage points.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
There may be an increase in High School Graduation, BUT, are these children educated???? Go to a store, these young people cannot make change. And God forbid you give them $20.15 cents for a bill of $18.15, they are completely lost. Ask them about the locations of countries……they don’t know. Ask them about compass directions, using the sun (or moon) as a guide, clueless. Ask them about American History, clueless (just Black History). Ask them about safety……carbon monoxide, flooding-electricity, trees & thunderstorms…….generators, propane, combustibles. They can work computers, but forget application in everyday life. I do believe our schools have dropped the standards so as to “graduate” this generation. My education in the 1960’s far surpassed what they are learning today!
Finding jobs for all the graduates in the obama economy will be very hard.
Fix the problem Vote TRUMP
There they go again. Though high school graduation rates may be improving, the question is how many of these graduates go to college, graduate, and then gain a quality middle class job? What percentage of these graduates pass the entrance exam to get into a community college? What percentage of these students graduate from the Community College? I have read that only 50% of cc students actually graduate from their community college. How many of our High School students go on to acquire the skill sets needed to land the high level tech jobs that pay good money? Google has stated that in the next ten years fifty per cent of those jobs have not been yet invented and will require high levels of math, science, and computer knowledge. Congrats on the scores but we have a very long way to go!
I have read that most universities are having to teach freshman remedial classes to get them up to college level. Of course if one is only interested in women’s studies or black studies I am sure they would be wasting money on the remedial classes. Good luck finding a job with the studies degree.