More Oregon HS Students Graduate Yet State Falls to Third Worst in Nation

As President Obama announced Monday that high school graduation rates around the country improved to a record high of 83.2 percent, the news in Oregon was a mixed bag. On one hand, the state's graduation rate did improve from the previous year. On the other hand, Oregon didn't improve enough and slipped from the fourth worst in the nation to the third worst.

"We have made a lot of progress," Obama said, speaking at a high school in Washington, D.C.. "I just want to be honest with you. We still got more work to do...There are still too many states are are cutting back on public education.

"It's why if you're 18, you got to vote," he told the audience.

The state-by-state numbers released on Monday by the United States Department of Education showed that 73.8 percent of Oregon high school students graduated - an almost two percent increase. Unfortunately for Oregon, Alaska had even more growth - jumping ahead and pushing Oregon to 48th in the country.

Only two states had lower graduation rates than Oregon - Nevada at 71 percent and New Mexico at 69 percent.

On the slightly positive side, Oregon - for the first time since 2011 when the United States adopted a new measure for tracking graduation rates - did not have the lowest graduation rate for white students.

That dishonor went to Nevada where 74 percent of white students graduated. Oregon was 49th with 76 percent of white students graduated. The nationwide number was 87.6 percent.

Black students in Oregon also showed improved - rising three percentage points to 63 percent. Nationwide the graduation rate for black students was 74.6 percent.

You can check the stats for the nation here. There are pulldown menus and different ways at looking at the information.

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