By Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 22, 2013

[....] The latest federal report on public school graduates and dropouts, released Tuesday, paints an improving picture of high school education, but the results vary by location, a reflection of the reality that education policy remains a local issue. [....]

Even as the national graduation rate was moving up and down through the years, there continued to be a wide variance among the states, ranging from 57.8% in Nevada and 59.9% in the District of Columbia to 91.1% in Wisconsin and 91.4% Vermont.

Overall, there was a percentage increase of at least one point in 38 states in 2009-10 from a year earlier while only the District of Columbia reported at least a one percentage point decrease in the same year.

By race, the average graduation rate was best for Asian/Pacific Islander students at 93.5% and weakest for African Americans at 66.1%. According to the report, white students graduated at 83.0%; Latinos at 71.4%; and American Indian and Alaska Native at 69.1%. [....]