Grad Rate Improves for Fourth Year

The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) announced today that high school graduation rates increased slightly to 80.2 percent in 2016-17, which marked four years of improvement from the class of 2013’s 77.6 percent graduation rate.

Full graduation rate statistics are available at edu.wyoming.gov/data/graduation-rates/.

“We are certainly encouraged to see another year of improvement in our graduation rate,” said State Superintendent Jillian Balow. “We know that graduation rate is more than just a statistic, it’s a huge milestone for every student who receives their diploma. As we look at various measures of how well our schools are doing, this is an important one. We set some high goals for graduation rates in our plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act, and will be working hand-in-hand with our schools to continue to improve.”

Fourteen Wyoming school districts posted graduation rates of 90 percent or above:

  • Uinta #4: 98.2%
  • Big Horn #3: 98.0%
  • Crook #1: 95.1%
  • Platte #2: 95.0%
  • Lincoln #1: 94.9%
  • Teton #1: 93.5%
  • Sublette #1: 92.9%
  • Park #16: 92.3%
  • Sweetwater #2: 92.0%
  • Big Horn #2: 91.7%
  • Washakie #2: 91.7%
  • Weston #1: 90.6%
  • Lincoln #2: 90.5%
  • Fremont #24: 90.3%

Since the 2009-10 school year, the WDE has calculated graduation rates using the Federal Four-Year Adjusted Cohort methodology established by the U.S. Department of Education, complying with federal law that requires all states to calculate graduation rates the same way. Students are counted in the four-year (“on-time”) high school graduation rate if they earn a diploma by September 15 following their cohort’s fourth year. Five- and six-year graduation rates are also calculated, and can be viewed with the rest of the graduation rate data.