U.S. High School Graduation is at an All-Time High

The United States' high school gradation rate reached an all-time high of 82 percent in 2013-2014, the Department of Education revealed on Tuesday. The new rate is one percent higher than the one calculated for the 2012-2013 school year.

"America's students have achieved another record milestone by improving graduation rates for a fourth year," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan reported by U.S. News and World Report. "We can take pride as a nation in knowing that we're seeing promising gains, including for students of color."

According to the federal data, there were increases in every category, which included race, income, language and learning disabilities. The gaps between students in these different categories have also narrowed although the disparities still exist.

More specifically, in the 2013-2014 school year, 89.4 percent of Asian students, 87.2 percent of white students, 72.5 percent of black students and 76.3 percent of Hispanic students graduated on time.

In terms of income, the graduation rate for students coming from low-income households was 74.6 percent. The graduation rates for students who were learning English and students with a learning disability were 62.6 percent and 63.1 percent, respectively.

When it came down to state numbers, Iowa had the highest graduation rate at 90.5 percent and the District of Columbia had the lowest with 61.4 percent.

"A high school diploma is absolutely critical, absolutely attainable and key to future success in college, in the workforce and in life," Duncan said reported by The Washington Post. "It is encouraging to see our graduation rate on the rise and I applaud the hard work we know it takes to see this increase. But too many students never get their diploma, never walk across the graduation stage and while our dropout numbers are also decreasing, we remain committed to urgently closing the gaps that still exist in too many schools and in too many communities."

Before data on the graduation rates were published, it was reported that performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is also called the Nation's Report Card, dropped. SAT scored also fell.

The data was compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics.