Nevada High-School Graduation Rate 3rd Worst in Nation

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nevada's high school graduation rate remains among the worst in the nation, and ranks last in terms of graduating African Americans.

The Education Department said Tuesday that Nevada's overall rate for the 2013-14 school year was 70 percent. Only New Mexico and the District of Columbia were worse, with 68.5 percent and 61.4 percent, respectively. Nationally, the Education Department said 82.3 percent of students graduated — the highest rate since the department started using new, uniform measures in 2010.

In Nevada, white students graduated at a rate of 77 percent, Hispanics 65 percent and blacks 54 percent. The second-worst rate for blacks nationally was in Washington D.C. — 59.7 percent, compared to the U.S. average of 72.5 percent. Among students with limited proficiency in English, Nevada's rate of 28.6 percent was better only better than Arizona's 18 percent.