For the first time in 40 years, the percentage of black 18- to 24-year-olds with a high school credential was nearly the same as that of their white peers, data from the National Center for Education Statistics show, but racial gaps remain for earning an on-time diploma.
From 1977 to 2016, white students had a higher “status completion rate” than black students, meaning the percentage of young adults out of high school with a diploma or alternative like a GED. In 2017, that completion gap closed to only 1 percent, measuring 94.8 percent for white students and 93.8 percent for black students. The overall completion rate was 93.3 percent for 2017.
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By contrast, the national adjusted cohort graduation rate measures the number of first-time 9th graders who earn a regular high school diploma four years later, accounting for students who transfer in or out, emigrate, or die, in the years between. That rate for 2016-17 was 85 percent, up 6 percentage points since it was first collected in 2010-11. But the cohort graduation rate for white students was 89 percent, versus 78 percent for black students.