Michigan’s four-year graduation rate climbed to a new high of 84% for the class of 2025, the Michigan Department of Education announced Friday, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the previous year.
The state’s five-year graduation rate for the class of 2024 improved by nearly 1 percentage point, to 85.8%, and the four-year dropout rate also improved to 7.1%, down from 7.7% in the previous year.
The graduation rate is the highest since the state adopted the federal formula for calculating the rate in 2008, according to MDE. The rates are distributed by the Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information and are available to filter by school district on the MI School Data website.
State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko said the historic highs are due to increased efforts by “students, educators, families and communities as well as state leaders.”
“It takes all of us collaborating to put Students First and support them so they can graduate, be successful in postsecondary endeavors, and realize their dreams,” Maleyko said in a statement. “There’s more work to do because we want all students to graduate, but we know we can make further progress while also improving other student outcomes such as literacy.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also said in a statement she knows “how much hard work students and parents do to walk across the stage and receive a high school diploma.”
“Since I took office, we’ve made record investments in education, from helping schools buy the latest textbooks and technology to delivering free breakfast and lunch to all 1.4 million public school students,” Whitmer said. “Let’s keep working together to boost Michigan’s graduation rate and help every young person ‘make it’ in Michigan.”
EdTrust-Midwest State Director Brian Love said in a statement the new record high was “promising.”
“It shows that the collaboration of our state leaders and educators is working for our state’s students,” Love said. “At the same time, our state leaders have more work to do to ensure all students are college and career ready, particularly students with the greatest needs.”
Several school districts also saw record graduation rates.
Troy School District had the highest graduation rate of the 20 largest districts, at 98.3%.
Sixteen of the 20 largest districts in the state saw increases, averaging 1.4 percentage points of growth among them.
Detroit Public Schools Community District had the largest increase of the 20 districts, raising its graduation rate 5.1 percentage points to 83.2%, just a hair below the state average and marking a new district high.
The growth continues an upward trend for DPSCD, with the 2025 class marking the fourth consecutive year of improvement since the pandemic low of 64.5 percent in 2020-21, a recovery of 18.7 percentage points. The gap between DPSCD’s graduation rate and the state average was 16 points, and is now less than 1 point.
“Our teachers, counselors, principals, and staff knew we could do better and put in the work every day to get us here,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, noting the increases “did not happen by accident.”
“We were intentional about building a stronger system of support around our high school students,” Vitti said. “This included advanced data tracking systems, more course recovery, additional counselors and mental health intervention for neighborhood high schools. We still haven’t completely arrived where students need us to be as a district but we are certainly making historic strides! I am proud of our students, their families, and our staff.”
Vitti recently focused his State of the Schools address on the growth in DPSCD, and urged other districts across Michigan to come see what Detroit is doing to spur that growth.
Grand Rapids Public Schools also released a statement about its new record rate of 83.2%, an increase of a little less than a point from last year but nearly 18 points higher than it was 10 years ago.
“The continued increase in our graduation rate shows what is possible when an entire district rallies around scholar success,” Superintendent Leadriane Roby said. “Our educators are focused on ensuring every scholar has the support they need to graduate and prepare for what’s next. The Class of 2025 is proof that our collective efforts aremaking a real difference.”
MDE attributed much of the growth to “rigorous secondary school programs in Michigan such as Career and Technical Education,” including dual enrollment, where students can earn college credit while still in high school.
The state also saw growth within 14 of its 17 subgroups of students, including homeless students (4.6 percentage points), military-connected students (3.8 percentage points), African American students (2.6 percentage points), economically disadvantaged students (1.5 percentage points), and Hispanic/Latino students (1 percentage point).
Love, the EdTrust director, said some of those rates still remain low, showing the continued need for investment. African American students graduated in four years at a rate of 75.7%. Students who are economically disadvantaged had a 74.6% four-year graduation rate.
Love said EdTrust-Midwest is advocating for additional funding that is weighted toward districts with higher populations of students with the most need.
“It’s important for state leaders to continue to invest in our schools, particularly those that serve high concentrations of students from low-income backgrounds, English learners and students with disabilities; develop research-backed policies to address our state’s early reading crisis; and support strategies to close opportunity gaps that leave too many students unprepared for college and career,” Love said. “Our students can’t wait.”
jpignolet@detroitnews.com
