State grad rate remains high

The Minnesota Department of Education released Class of 2020 graduation rate data for the state earlier this month. Overall, Minnesota high school seniors reached another historic graduation rate high of 83.8 percent (56,684 students) who graduated in 2020. This continues an upward trend for the statewide four-year graduation rate, which has increased 1.3 percentage points in the last five years. Additionally, 3,490 students from earlier classes also earned their diplomas in 2020, graduating five, six or seven years after beginning high school.

The graduation rate for Black students declined slightly from 2019 to 2020. American Indian students saw a significant increase of 4.9 percentage points for a graduation rate of 55.7 percent. In the past five years, the graduation rate for American Indian students had remained between 49 and 51 percent.

Fewer students are dropping out of high school. From 2019 to 2020, the overall statewide high school dropout rate decreased from 4.4 percent to 3.7, and also dropped for every major student group. This continues a trend from 2019, which had also seen a decrease in dropout rates.