Minnesota High School Graduation Rates Higher Than Ever

ST. PAUL (AP) -- Graduation rates for Minnesota high school students have hit a historic high.

The state Department of Education released data Thursday that shows a graduation rate of 83.7% for the class of 2019. That's up half a percentage point from the prior year and up nearly one and a half points over the last five years.

Black and Hispanic students made the biggest gains with improvements of more than 3 percentage points for Hispanics and more than 2 points for black students. The data shows the rate for Native American students fell slightly this year.