* The national graduation rate for the class of 1998 was 71%. For
white students the rate was 78%, while it was 56% for African-American
students and 54% for Latino students.
* Georgia had the lowest overall graduation rate in the nation
with 54% of students graduating, followed by Nevada, Florida, and
Washington, D.C.
* Iowa had the highest overall graduation rate with 93%, followed
by North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Nebraska.
* Wisconsin had the lowest graduation rate among African-American
students with 40%, followed by Minnesota, Georgia, and Tennessee.
Georgia had the lowest graduation rate among Latino students with 32%,
followed by Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Less than 50% of
African-American students graduated in seven states and less than 50%
of Latino students graduated in eight states for which data were
available.
* The highest rate of graduation among African-American students
was 71% in West Virginia, followed by Massachusetts, Arkansas, and New
Jersey. The highest rate of graduation among Latino students was 82%
in Montana, followed by Louisiana, Maryland, and Hawaii.
* Among the fifty largest school districts in the country,
Cleveland City had the lowest overall graduation rate with 28%,
followed by Memphis, Milwaukee, and Columbus.
* Fairfax County, VA had the highest overall graduation rate among
the districts with 87%, followed by Montgomery County, MD, Albuquerque
and Boston.
* Cleveland City had the lowest graduation rate among
African-American students with 29%, followed by Milwaukee, Memphis,
and Gwinett County, Georgia. Cleveland City also had the lowest
graduation rate among Latino students, followed by Georgia’s Dekalb,
Gwinnett, and Cobb counties. Less than 50% of African-American
students graduated in fifteen of forty-five districts for which there
was sufficient data, and less than 50% of Latino students graduated in
twenty-one of thirty-six districts for which there was sufficient
data.
* The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) finds a
national high school completion rate of 86% for the class of 1998. The
discrepancy between the NCES’ finding and this report’s finding of a
71% rate is largely caused by NCES’ counting of General Educational
Development (GED) graduates and others with alternative credentials as
high school graduates, and by its reliance on a methodology that is
likely to undercount dropouts.
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