Iowa high school graduation rate tops 90 percent

The statewide high school graduation rate surpassed 90 percent last year, according to data released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Education.

The figures, which detail how many students graduate high school within four years, show a slight increase statewide, from 89.7 percent in 2013 to 90.5 percent in 2014.

Cedar Rapids schools had the largest increase in four-year graduation rate among the state's 10 largest school districts. The 2014 graduation rate in Cedar Rapids was 85.02 percent, up from 80.92 percent in 2013.

Nine of the state's 10 largest districts reported increases, although seven of the 10 had graduation rates below the statewide rate.

In Iowa City, the 2014 four-year graduation rate was 90.39 percent, up from 87.9 percent in 2013.

Other Corridor districts also reported four-year graduation rate increases.

The Clear Creek-Amana Community School District and Solon Community School District both showed increases of more than 4 percentage points, up to 90.74 percent and 96.45 percent, respectively.

The Solon, Clear Creek-Amana, College Community, Linn-Mar and Marion districts all had 2014 four-year graduation rates higher than the statewide rate.

Solon's graduation rate was the highest of those, and the district showed the largest increase from 2013 to 2014 among Corridor districts.

Of the Corridor districts, only the Marion Independent School District reported a drop in its graduation rate, to 92.54 percent in 2014 from 93.64 percent in 2013.

The statewide four-year graduation rate has increased by 2.2 percent since 2011.

Graduation rates also differed by race, with the rates for African American, Native American and Hispanic students below the overall rate. Graduation rates for English language-learning students and those of low socioeconomic status also were below the overall rate.

The statewide four-year graduation rate for African-American students increased by 4.8 percent in 2014, up to 78.6 percent.

DROPOUT RATE DECLINES

The high school dropout rate in the 2013-14 school year was 2.7 percent statewide, down slightly from 2.8 percent the year before.

In Cedar Rapids and Marion, the rates were significantly higher than that, at 4.85 percent and 3.61 percent, respectively.

Statewide, dropout rates among African American and Native American students were more than double the overall rate, at 7.2 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.