Urban Institute maps grad-rate trends

UNC Charlotte's Urban Institute recently posted an interactive map that helps people look at graduation-rate trends for N.C. school districts over the last eight years,  since the state started using a four-year tracking method.

Graphic from Urban Institute report

The overall statewide trend has been upward,  though as the report notes,  there have been variations by district.  Wake,  the state's largest district,  has been fairly flat,  while Charlotte-Mecklenburg has caught up.

When it comes to education data,  it seems like there's always a footnote.  CMS changed the number of credits required for graduation,  starting with the class of 2013.  As I reported Monday, it's hard to gauge how much that influenced this year's gain,  which continued an upward trend that preceded the change. About 1,475 seniors availed themselves of the new option to graduate with fewer than 28 credits, but CMS officials note that an unknown number of those likely would have met the higher credit requirement had it been in place.