Nebraska High School Graduation Rates Continue to Improve

Governor

      

 

   Dear Fellow Nebraskans:
One of the goals of Nebraska’s P-16 Initiative (preschool through college) is for every high school in Nebraska to achieve a 90 percent high school graduation rate.
The Department of Education recently announced Nebraska’s statewide graduation rate has improved from 87.6 percent to 88.5 percent. That’s great news. Nebraska has one of the best high school graduation rates in the country.
I want to congratulate our school districts for the increased focus that they put on graduating their students from high school. To succeed in life and in the work place, you need a high school diploma. Additionally, we are encouraging students to obtain either a two year associate’s degree or four year bachelor’s degree depending upon their area of study.
In reviewing Nebraska’s high school graduation rates, we should be very careful about comparing the graduation rates of a Class A school like Millard West with a graduating class of over 500 students with Perkins County with a graduating class of 26 or Anselmo-Merna with a graduating class of 17. That’s why I focus on comparing high schools within their sports classification.
Among Nebraska’s Class A schools, 17 of our 26 high schools have a graduation rate above 85 percent and nine are above 90 percent. In Class B, 23 of our 28 high schools have a graduation rate above 85 percent and 17 are above 90 percent.
In Class C-1, 29 of our 39 high schools are above a 90 percent high school graduation rate and another eight are between 85 to 90 percent. In Class C-2, 31 of our 40 high schools are above 90 percent and all C-2 schools are above 82 percent.
Among smaller schools that we can report on, 54 of our 61 high schools are above the 90 percent high school graduation rate goal and all smaller high schools have a graduation rate above 83 percent.
The graduation rate information for our high schools will be available at my website, governor.nebraska.gov by clicking on the icon “columns.”
I also want to emphasize the improvements our school districts have made on Nebraska’s statewide assessments in reading, math and science. I reported on that progress in my November 1 and November 15 weekly columns. I am very pleased that most of our schools are experiencing noticeable improvements in these assessment scores. I want to thank our schools and parents for their increased emphasis on academic achievement.
Class A Graduation Rates (pdf)
Class B Graduation Rates (pdf)
C-1 Graduation Rates (pdf)
C-2 Graduation Rates (pdf)
Smaller Schools Graduation Rates (pdf)

- Dave Heineman
    Governor of Nebraska