State officials say Nevada's public high school graduation rate is up almost 3 percentage points from the previous year.
The Nevada Department of Education says the graduation rate for the Class of 2016 is 73.6%. That's up from 70.8% in 2015.
More than 1,000 more Nevada students graduated high school in 2016 compared with 2015.
English language learners were the group that showed the greatest improvement. Their graduation rate rose 10 percentage points, even though it remains one of the lowest among subgroups in the state at about 42.6%.
Nevada's graduation rate is one of the worst in the country and beat only New Mexico and the District of Columbia last year.
But state Superintendent Steve Canavero says Nevada is on track to become the fastest-improving state.
“While the statewide average continues to trend up there is significant work to do to ensure that all Nevada students are college and career ready,” said Canavero. “The gaps in our graduation rate between groups of students are a call to action. For too many of our students the likelihood of graduation is a 50-50 proposition. That is unacceptable.”
Nine school districts and the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority (SPCSA) improved their graduation rates in 2016. Storey County, Lincoln County and SPCSA increased their graduation rates by more than 9 percentage points, while Carson City, Lyon, Lander and Elko Counties saw their graduation rates increase between 5 and 7 percentage points. The Clark County School District increased their rate by 2.8 percentage points while Washoe and White Pine Counties increased their graduation rate just less than 2 percentage points. Churchill, Douglas, Humboldt and Mineral Counties all saw their rates decrease.
(The Associated Press, and Nevada Department of Education contributed to this report.)
