High school graduation rate highest on record

Tennessee high schoolers’ 2016-17 graduation rate of 89.1 percent is the highest on record for the state, Gov. Bill Haslam and Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced Thursday.

“Teachers and educators in Tennessee have worked tirelessly to support students, and these record graduation rates show their hard work is making a difference,” Haslam said in a news release. “As more students graduate from high school, we are committed to helping them go to college, succeed and become skilled members of Tennessee’s workforce. The graduation rate is reflective of the many gains we are making in education in our state.”

The statewide graduation rate is up more than a half percentage point since last year, and overall it has increased 3.6 percent since the 2010-11 school year, the release stated. This year, graduation rates increased in nearly 56 percent of districts with high schools.

Also, the state’s Achievement School District had the third largest gain of any district, up 12.8 percentage points. This historic growth for the district furthers its goals as it creates urgency on improving education for all students, particularly those in schools in the bottom 5 percent of the state for academic performance, according to the release.

More information on graduation rates for individual districts and schools is available on the Tennessee Department of Education’s website.