Graduation rates up
Before the 21st century, graduation rates of students at individual area high schools were largely unknown to the public.
Newspaper archives over the last 40 years of the 20th century occasionally mention state rates, but even rates at local districts were elusive.
We found, for instance, a reported graduation rate of 70.5% for Tennessee students in 1984, 69.3% in 1988 and 67% in 1990. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in the 1990s both set a graduation goal of 90% for all United States students by 2000, but the Volunteer State appeared to be headed the wrong way.