Obama touts rising high school graduation rates

In full legacy-building mode, President Obama highlighted his administration’s achievements in public education Monday but said the nation still needs to help more minorities graduate from high school and attend college.

“For too many students in America, ZIP codes still determine how far they’ll go,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s not acceptable.”

The president visited the Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, D.C., to call attention to improved graduation rates, which rose to a record 83.2 percent in 2015. The White House said that’s up by about 4 percentage points since the 2010-2011 school year.

The Education Department says the overall graduation rate rose 0.9 percentage points from the 2013-2014 school year to 2014-2015.

While graduation rates for minority groups improved, they’re still below the national average. The graduation rate for black students stands at 74.6 percent, and the rate for Hispanic students is 77.8 percent.

Mr. Obama said such gaps in education persist in part because some states are lagging behind in their education spending.

“There are still too many states that are cutting back on public education,” Mr. Obama told the high school students. “That’s why if you’re 18, by the way, you’ve got to vote. We’ve still got too many states that have not really worked in a serious way to raise standards and improve performance.”

The District of Columbia had the biggest increase in graduation rates in the country last year, from 61.4 percent to 68.5 percent.

The president cited his administration’s expansion of Head Start programs, increased emphasis on computer literacy and the “Race to the Top” initiative as proof that education has improved on his watch.

“We’ve made a lot of progress,” he said. “I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished.”