High-school graduation rates for minority and poor students reach record highs

High school graduation rates for disadvantaged students have reached record highs. The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that 2012-13 rate for students with minority backgrounds or poor families was 81.4 percent, up from 80 percent in 2011-12. Asian students had the highest rate, at 88.7 percent, followed by whites, 86.6 percent; Hispanics, 75.2 percent; low-income students, 73.3 percent; and African American, 70.7.

"The largest black-white gaps were in the Midwest," Max Ehrenfreund reports for The Washington Post. Department of Education data includes the graduation rate for every state in 2012-13, compared to the previous two years, led by Iowa with a 90 percent graduation rate. (Read more) (Post map)