Utah's graduation rates among best in U.S.

Utah high schools are churning out some of the highest percentages of graduates in the United States, outpacing national trends overall, but falling behind for some minorities.

Jordan and Granite school districts also earned top-10 spots among the nation's largest districts for their high graduation rates, according to reports released Tuesday by Education Week and by the National Center on Education Statistics.

Both reports ranked Utah as a leader in the effort to prevent dropouts. Education Week placed the state 12th-highest in the United States, and the National Center pegged Utah as the eighth-highest state in the percentage of high school graduates.

"Whatever statistic you choose to use, they show Utah's public schools are doing a tremendous job working with our youth in achieving that educational milestone," Patti Harrington, state superintendent of education, said. "However, in a globally competitive environment, we cannot rest."

Overall, Utah high schools graduate 76.7 percent of their students, compared to the national average of 69.6 percent.

While the graduation numbers are good for Utah, State Office of Education spokesman Mark Peterson said the graduation rates still are not quite high enough for minority students. Black students in Utah high schools posted a 60.6 percent graduation rate, exceeding the national average of 51.6. The state graduation rate for Hispanics of 55.5 percent was .1 percent less than the national rate.

Graduation rates for Asian students in Utah, however, trailed the national average by about 6 percent, with a 71.2 percent graduation rate. White students in Utah had an 81.7 percent graduation rate.

"The minority numbers are still unacceptable," said Peterson. "There is still such a huge gap. There's a 10-20 point gap between them and white students."

Utah also came up short on how many classes high school students have to take to get those diplomas. Only three states had fewer graduation requirements than Utah, which has 15 total credit requirements, compared to a national average of 20.5, according to the Education Week report.

The State Board of Education is looking to increase those requirements to 18 by tacking on an extra year of math, science and English — the core areas where Utah falls behind.

But education leaders don't want those more stringent requirements to negatively affect the banner graduation rates, Peterson said.