Graduation rates up

Graduation rates in Des Moines are up. Bryce Amos, a Des Moines school administrator who oversees dropout prevention programs, told the Register the increases in graduation rates of black and hispanic students can take a lot of the credit for the jump. Graduation rates for black students in Des Moines jumped 9 percentage points, to 78.3 percent, from 2009 to 2010. The rate for Hispanic students climbed 14 percentage points, to 71.2 percent, in the same period. The overall graduation rate in Des Moines are up about six percentage points to 78.3. It was the highest increase of any large school district in Iowa.