Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Nevada high school graduation rate settles around 70 percent

CCSD August Graduation

Steve Marcus

Graduates listen to a keynote address by Las Vegas City Councilman Ricki Barlow during the Clark County School District’s second annual summer high school graduation ceremony for summer school graduates and at-risk students at the Las Vegas Academy in downtown Las Vegas Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013.

Half of the counties in Nevada saw a drop in graduation rates last year while the other half saw decent improvements, according to state data released today.

The statewide graduation rate fell only slightly, from 70.65 percent to 70 percent, according to the Nevada Department of Education. Rising enrollment rates mean around 900 more students graduated in 2014 than the previous year.

Humboldt and Mineral counties saw big improvements in their graduation rate, with both jumping nearly 10 percent from last year. State charter schools saw an improvement of 8 percent. Elko, Lincoln and Storey counties rose 5 percent.

Urban counties like Clark and Washoe largely stayed the same, hovering around 70 to 72 percent. Other counties, such as Eureka and Nye, fell around 5 percent.

Storey County has the highest graduation rate at 93 percent. The lowest is in Mineral County at 64 percent.

“Although the overall rate is essentially flat, I am pleased to see that many Nevada schools and districts continue to demonstrate significant increases in their graduation rates,” state Superintendent Dale Erquiaga said in a statement.

Asian and Hispanic students statewide graduated at a higher rate than last year while every other race saw slight drops.

The state did better at graduating English language learners in 2014. The group saw the single biggest improvement compared to any other demographic, but they still suffer the worst overall graduation rate at 27 percent.

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