MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Alabama State Department of Education has revised the state's graduation rate after an earlier figure proved inaccurate.
Information released during a meeting Tuesday shows Alabama's graduation rate was 87.1 percent in 2016.
That's higher than the 85 percent rate announced in April, but lower than the 89 percent rate reported in 2015. The previous figures were found to be incorrect.
The new rate was made public after a lengthy discussion about how faulty district-by-district information was posted online by the state in April.
A former school superintendent who investigated the mistake, Phil Hammonds, says a series of what he calls "unfortunate events" led to the release of bad information. He says school systems didn't get a chance to review their data before it was published.