JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Gov. Jay Nixon today applauded new data from the U.S. Department of Education showing that Missouri’s 4-year high school graduation rate increased to 87.3 percent in 2013/2014 from 85.7 percent in 2012/2013. Missouri’s graduation rate is significantly above the national average of 82.3 and ranks in the top 10 in the nation.
Missouri’s graduation rate surpassed the national average across all racial and ethnic groups and underserved populations, including students with disabilities. From the 2010/2011 to the 2013/2014 school year, Missouri’s high school graduation rate rose 6 percentage points, from 81 percent to 87 percent.
“These rising graduation rates reflect the solid progress that students are making all across our state,” Gov. Nixon said. “More students graduating from high school means greater economic opportunities for them, and a more competitive workforce for our state. Moving forward, I will continue to work across the aisle to strengthen and improve public education in Missouri.”
Gov. Nixon has made public education in Missouri a top priority of his administration. Even during the height of the recession, he worked to balance the budget every year while providing record funding for K-12 classrooms.
The Governor has also worked to expand the number of schools implementing Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) which provides proven interventions to help young people who have potential but, for a variety for reasons, are at-risk to not graduate from high school. JAG helps these students stay in school, graduate, and then succeed in postsecondary education and the workforce. By leveraging public and private funding sources, Gov. Nixon has worked successfully to expand the number of schools offering JAG to 16 in the current school year.
