DES MOINES (AP) — The Iowa Department of Education says the state’s high school graduation rate has increased for the fifth year in a row.
Data released by the department Tuesday show about 90 percent of students in Iowa’s 2015 graduating class completed high school within four years. The graduation rate has steadily increased from 88.3 percent for the Class of 2011.
Officials say Iowa became the first state in the country with a graduation rate above 90 percent last year. The U.S. Department of Education has not yet released national data for the Class of 2015.
Additionally, there were 3,637 Iowa students who dropped out during the 2014-15 school year, which is a slight decrease from the previous year’s dropout rate.