Baltimore County had the second-highest graduation rate among large districts in the nation in 2010, according to a report released Thursday that has annually scrutinized graduates differently than most states, which also found that Baltimore City has drastically improved from being among the worst rates in the nation.
The data was published in an annual report compiled by the trade publication "Education Week," which analyzes high school completion data published by the U.S. Department of Education, and calculates rates based on a formula that seeks to capture how many students obtain a diploma in four years.
For the last decade, that has meant that many states and school districts reported rates higher than Education Week, but Maryland implemented a similar formula last year.
However, this year's "Diplomas Count" report posted encouraging statistics, finding that in 2010—the most recent federal data available—the nation's graduation rate was roughly 75 percent, about 2 percentage points shy of surpassing the 77.1 percent record for high school completion.
The 2010 rate represented an 8 percentage point increase for the United States over the last decade.
Maryland's overall graduation rate in 2010 noted less movement, ranking 17th in the nation at 78.6 percent. Still, researchers said the figure represented steady growth in the last decade.
"The nation as a whole has seen considerable progress," said Chris Swanson, vice president of research and development at Education Week. "Maryland has seen less progress than the nation as a whole, but they started at a much higher point."
Swanson said that although the state was named by Education Week as being the No.1 school system in the nation five years in a row, graduation rates—one of more than a dozen indices for the designation—was not a driver.
The state's No. 1 status is driven by its aggressive and progressive educational policy, he said.