Who Graduates?

According to an earlier 2004 report by The Urban Institite, the national graduation rate is 68 percent, with nearly one-third of all public high school students failing to graduate.

Tremendous racial gaps are found for graduation rates.

Students from historically disadvantaged minority groups (American Indian, Hispanic, Black) have little more than a fifty-fifty chance of finishing high school with a diploma. By comparison, graduation rates for Whites and Asians are 75 and 77 percent nationally.

Males graduate from high school at a rate 8 percent lower than female students. Graduation rates for students who attend school in high poverty, racially segregated, and urban school districts lag from 15 to 18 percent behind their peers.

A great deal of variation in graduation rates and gaps among student groups is found across regions of the country as well as the states.

More here.