A wide gender gap in high school graduation rates is most pronounced among minorities in large urban school districts

Kate McGreevy:

Key findings from the report, which is based on figures from 2003, the most recent data available, include a national public high school graduation rate of 70 percent. New Jersey and South Carolina bookend the nation with 88 percent and 54 percent graduation rates, respectively. Insufficient data kept the District of Columbia and Hawaii from being included.

"The results are a useful reminder just how low the high school graduation rate is --around 70 percent on average and about 50 percent for minorities," Winters noted. "The gender gap is also interesting, and we confirmed that it is particularly large for African-American and Hispanic students. It's certainly worth it to wonder why."

While the national graduation rate for white students is 78 percent, Greene and Winters found graduation rates for African-American students averaged 55 percent, and for Hispanics, 53 percent. Females are graduating at higher rates than their male counterparts. African-American students display the largest gender gap, at 11 percentage points.

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