Georgia's high school graduation rate continued to inch upward, hitting 82% last spring for the first time since a new method of counting was implemented nationally eight years ago.
The percentage of students statewide who graduated within four years of starting high school was up slightly from 81.6% the prior year, which in turn was an increase of 1 percentage point from 2017.
There have been similarly slight increases since 2015. That year, the rate jumped several points to 79%, up from 72.6% in 2014.
It had been climbing steadily since 2011, when the federal government instituted a new, uniform measure for all states. Under the new formula, Georgia's 2011 graduation rate plummeted 13 percentage points, to 67.4% from 80.9. It rose to 69.7% in 2012.
The four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate counts students who transfer to a school but not those who transfer out. Schools must track departing students to ensure they registered elsewhere, and some early increases under the new federal measure may have been due to better bookkeeping.
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The new formula revealed that more students were dropping out than had previously been counted and a sizable number were taking five or six years to earn a diploma.
This year in metro Atlanta, only Fulton and Cobb counties were among the big urban districts to beat the state average. Fulton's graduation rate was 87.2% while Cobb's was 87%.
Gwinnett County more than a percentage point shy of the state average with a rate of 80.9%. Atlanta under performed at 78%, while DeKalb County was well below at 73.4% with Clayton County down further at 72.7%.
The tiny City Schools of Decatur had the highest rate in metro Atlanta, and among the highest in Georgia, at 95.2%. The even smaller Echols and Webster counties in rural South Georgia had 100% graduation rates.
This article was written by Ty Tagami, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.