From 48th in the Nation to Above the National Average: Mississippi's Graduation Rate Transformation

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

A decade ago, Mississippi graduated fewer than three in four high school students. The state's 73.8% four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate in 2014 placed it 48th in the nation, ahead of only Nevada and New Mexico.

By 2025, that number is 87.9% — above the national average of roughly 87%. The 14.1 percentage point improvement represents one of the most dramatic state-level graduation turnarounds in the country.

The climb, in two acts

Mississippi's gains came in distinct phases. From 2014 to 2019, the state added 9.4 percentage points through five years of mostly steady improvement — from 73.8% to 83.2%, with only a minor dip in 2018.

Then came COVID. The Class of 2021, which graduated under waived requirements in many states, posted an 87.3% rate — a 4.1-point jump that likely reflected relaxed standards as much as genuine progress. The question was whether the gains would stick once waivers expired.

They largely did. The rate held at 87.3% in 2022, then climbed to 88.1% and 88.8% before dipping to 87.9% in 2025. The post-COVID plateau represents real progress built on top of COVID-era inflation — the state did not crash back to pre-pandemic levels the way some districts nationally have.

The district story behind the numbers

Only 22 districts have continuous data from 2014 to 2025, and among them, 21 improved. The gains were not suburban luxuries — they came from some of Mississippi's poorest communities.

Coahoma County^↗, in the heart of the Delta, posted the state's largest gain: from 51.7% to 90.7%, a 39-point improvement. Tunica County^↗, another high-poverty Delta district, climbed from 57.3% to 89.4%. Water Valley rose from 59.0% to 92.3%.

These are not districts riding demographic tailwinds. They are small, predominantly Black communities in the Mississippi Delta where a majority of students qualify as economically disadvantaged.

Where Mississippi stands now

The state's 138 districts spread across the graduation rate spectrum in ways that would have been unrecognizable a decade ago:

18 districts graduate 95% or more of their students
44 districts fall between 90% and 95%
56 districts land in the 80-89% range
Only 20 districts remain below 80%, and just 2 fall below 70%

In 2014, 11 districts with available data fell below 70%. Today, only Yazoo City (66.4%) and Wilkinson County (68.2%) remain in crisis territory. Among the 22 districts with continuous data since 2014, just one exceeded 90% then. Today, 62 districts statewide top that threshold.

What drove it

Mississippi's improvement coincided with several policy shifts. The 2013 Literacy-Based Promotion Act, which required third graders to demonstrate reading proficiency before advancing to fourth grade, moved Mississippi's fourth-grade reading scores from 49th to 29th nationally in subsequent years. Those early literacy gains may now be showing up in graduation rates as the first affected cohorts reach 12th grade.

The Mississippi Department of Education also credits expanded Career and Technical Education pathways. The state reports that CTE completers achieve a 99.5% graduation rate. The traditional diploma requires 24 credits; adding a CTE endorsement requires 26 but provides students with a concrete pathway to completion.

The state's dropout rate fell from 13.9% to 7% over the same period, according to MDE reporting.

The asterisk

The official MDE figure for 2024-25 is 90.8%, not the 87.9% in the data used here. The discrepancy likely reflects differences in aggregation method — MDE uses the official ACGR calculation while district-level data compiled from school reports may produce a slightly different figure. Both tell the same story: Mississippi has transformed its graduation rate.

The 2025 dip of 0.9 points from the 2024 peak of 88.8% also deserves attention. It is the first meaningful reversal since 2018 and raises the question of whether the improvement era has plateaued. That question will define the next chapter of Mississippi education policy.