The Massachusetts Education Department announced Thursday that four-year high school graduation rates had improved for the ninth year in a row.
Across the state, 87.3 percent of students who entered high school in 2011 graduated four years later, a 1.2 percent increase from last year’s rate.
While urban school districts fell behind the state averages, Springfield school officials said trends are in the right direction. Superintendent Dan Warwick said the graduation rate has increased more than 10 points since 2012 and the drop-out rate has been cut in half.
" I think the drop-out rate is our most important number," said Warwick. " Those are our kids and they have no chance in life unless we can graduate them from high school."
The state’s drop-out rate declined to 1.9 percent, the lowest in 30 years.
