RICHMOND
On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Education reported that nine out of 10 students who entered the ninth grade in 2011 earned a diploma within four years, and more than half earned an Advance Studies Diploma. Out of the 93,064 students that Virginia had in its class of 2015, 90.5 percent of students earned a Board of Education-approved diploma. This is an increase from 2014 when 89.9 percent of students earned a diploma.

The dropout rate for the class of 2015 was 5.2 percent, better from the class of 2014 with a dropout rate of 5.4 percent.

Virginia has 329 high schools and combined schools with graduating classes — 197 of those achieved graduating rates higher than the state rate — and 132 received lower rates. Out of the 131 high school divisions, 71 had graduation rates higher than the state’s, and 60 received rates that were lower.

The class of 2015 on-time graduation rate for Isle of Wight County School’s is higher than the state, with a rate of 91.6 percent. Southampton County and Franklin City Public Schools fall short of the state with rates of 88.7 percent and 82.3 percent, respectively.

“We always want to improve our graduation rate each year where we can at least try to meet or exceed the state average,” Superintendent of Franklin City Public School Dr. Willie Bell said.