Are America’s rising high school graduation rates real—or just an accountability-fueled mirage?
One of the greatest apparent achievements in U.S. education in the past two decades has been the steep rise of the U.S. high school graduation rate. For decades, the percentage of 18-24 year-olds who completed high school with a regular diploma or GED hovered around 85%. Since 2001, however, there has been a sharp increase, arguably the fastest rise since the early 1900s. Between 2001 and 2016, the percentage of 18-24 year-olds with a credential increased to 93%—an 8-percentage-point increase (see Figure 1).
