Alaska graduation rate among lowest in the country

Data released by the U.S. Department of Education shows Alaska has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country.

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Only the District of Columbia, New Mexico and Nevada had lower graduation rates during the 2013-14 school year than Alaska, whose graduation rate was 71.1 percent. Federal data shows Alaska’s rate has hovered around 70 percent since at least 2010-2011.

Nationally, the graduation rate was 82.3 percent.

Brian Laurent with Alaska’s education department says the state’s preliminary graduation rate for 2014-2015 is 75.6 percent. He says that’s when the state no longer required students to take a high school exit exam to get a diploma. State lawmakers in 2014 approved replacing the exam with a requirement that students take a college or career readiness test.

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