DENVER—The percentage of Colorado students graduating high school on time is up from last year, the Colorado Department of Education said Wednesday.
For the class of 2010, 72.4 percent of students graduated within four years, up from 70.7 percent of the class of 2009, the department said.
Including students who took longer than four years, 74.6 percent of the Colorado class of 2009 graduated high school. So far 73.3 percent of the class of 2010 has finished.
The on-time graduation rate in the class of 2010 was 50.1 percent for Native Americans; 82.4 percent for Asian students; 63.7 percent for black students; 55.5 percent for Hispanic students; and 80.2 percent for white students.
The department said 76.3 percent of girls and 68.7 percent of boys graduated on time.
The dropout rate was measured at 3.1 percent, down from 3.6 percent the previous school year. That translates to 13,147 seventh- to 12th-graders who left school in the last school year.
The education department’s Office of Dropout Prevention is analyzing state data to better understand how schools can re-engage dropouts. The information is set to be released in March.
Colorado Children’s Campaign President Chris Watney said a disproportionate number of minorities are dropping out, and that too many students overall are leaving school.
“Research shows that kids who don’t graduate from high school struggle throughout their lives to keep up. They are less likely to be employed, earn significantly less than their peers when they are employed, and have higher rates of health problems. The dropout crisis also costs Colorado billions of dollars in crime, health care, public support, and lost taxes. In fact, one high school dropout can be expected to cost the state in excess of $200,000 in additional public support over a lifetime,” Watney said in a written statement.
Watney’s group works on improving education, among other issues.
