The Iowa Department of Education says there was a small decrease in the statewide graduation rate for high school students in 2017. The Education Department says the number of students who graduated in four years dropped from 91-point-three percent in 2016 to 91 percent last year. The department says its goal is to have 95 percent of students graduate in four years. The annual dropout rate remained at two-point-eight percent. The graduation rate in Iowa has increased by nearly three percent since 2011 and the department says despite the small drop last year, there have been long-term gains in every demographic subgroup of students.

Graduation rates for African-American students for example, have gone up four years in a row and by more than nine percent since 2011.

(Radio Iowa)