ALBANY, N.Y.—The national high school graduation rate remained flat at about 75 percent between 2002 and 2006, while a dozen states made substantial gains, according to a new report by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

The report, released Thursday by the Baltimore university's Everyone Graduates Center, found the largest gain was in Tennessee, where the rate rose from 61 percent to 72 percent. New York's rate increased from 64 percent to 67 percent.

Those two states produced the greatest number of additional graduates, with roughly 8,000 more students in each earning high school diplomas in 2006, said the center, which tries to develop strategies to help students graduate.

The Tennessee Department of Education said Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen had put a lot more funding toward students considered at risk and students for whom English is a second language.

"I have to give a lot of credit to the teachers and principals in the local districts because without them you would not see these results," department spokeswoman Rachel Woods said.

Read the rest of the article from The Boston Globe 3/12/09:

Report: 12 States Made Gains in HS Graduation Rates