Go Mississippi! Record share of students earn diplomas
Published 5:19 pm Thursday, January 17, 2019
- Mississippi's graduation rate hit a record high, the state's education department just announced. The rate now equals that of the national average.
A greater share of Mississipi’s high school students are graduating than ever before.
The Mississippi Department of Education said Thursday that 84 percent of public school seniors graduated in the 2017-2018 school year, the highest mark on record. That’s up from 83 percent in 2016-2017 and 74 percent in 2012-2013.
The mark is equal to the most recent recorded national graduation rate of 84 percent in 2017.
The state says only 10.1 percent of seniors dropped out of high school without earning a diploma. The rest remain in school or earned an alternate credential to a diploma.
Mississippi’s graduation rate for students with disabilities rose to 38.4 percent last year from 23.2 percent in 2014.
The state Board of Education several years ago created alternate routes to graduation.
