Curt Hansen, director of student services for Granite School District, attributed those above-average rates to new truancy programs and family orientation classes to keep track of at-risk teens. Granite's graduation rate of 72.2 percent earned it a No. 10 spot on Education Week's ranking of the nation's largest districts.

A new class to help chronically truant students understand the importance of a high school diploma has also helped keep dropout rates low, he said. About 70 percent of truant students return to school after an initial letter to parents, he said, and more than half of the remaining students come back after the truancy class.

"Kids want to see the relevance," Hansen said. "They want to see that the school is relevant to their future, that their education will lead to an outcome in their life that makes sense."

Utah's compulsory education law requiring all students under the age of 18 to be in school also has an impact, he added. Thirty-three states have a lower limit of 16.

In Jordan District, a push to get students thinking about careers and college as soon as they enter high school has helped the district keep students in school, said Kevin Branch, secondary guidance specialist for the district. Education Week ranked Jordan as sixth-best among the nation's largest districts for its graduation rate of 80.2.

"A lot of effort goes into assuring that students have enrolled in the courses they need, that they're making progress towards graduating and they're meeting with a counselor regularly," he said. "They're early interventions."

But the numbers still aren't good enough for Branch. For him, they mean 20 percent of Jordan District students still aren't making it to the graduation line.

"We ought to be doing better," he said.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com