Nevada’s high school graduation rate continues to inch closer to its pre-pandemic level as schools are working to help their students recover from disruptions that included a move to virtual learning.

This year, the state’s graduation rate, 81.6 percent, improved by 0.2 percentage points from the previous year, the Nevada Department of Education announced Thursday. It’s 0.1 percentage points less than the state’s graduation rate from two years ago, 81.7 percent.   

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert called the slight uptick a step in the right direction.  

“Any improvement is cause for celebration, even a modest one like we experienced last year,” Ebert said in a statement. “The reality is this: It is premature to claim victory as long as even one student is struggling to graduate.” 

Fourteen of Nevada’s 17 school districts as well as the State Public Charter School Authority (SPCSA) had rates above the state average. Nine school districts saw gains in their graduation rates compared with the previous year, including Nye County, with a 6 percentage point increase. Seven districts boasted rates of 90 percent or higher. 

The graduation rate for the state’s largest school district, Clark County, held steady at 81.5 percent.

But graduation rates for groups such as American Indian/Alaska Native students, which increased by 9.3 percentage points to 74 percent, as well as Black/African American students, English learners, students experiencing transient housing, students with disabilities and students in foster care range from 7.6 to 39 percentage points behind the state average.

Prior to the pandemic, the state’s graduation rate was on an upward trend and jumped from about 74 percent during the 2016-2017 school year to 84 percent in the 2019-2020 school year. But the learning loss and challenges students experienced during the pandemic eroded that progress, Ann Marie Dickson, the Nevada Department of Education’s deputy superintendent for the student achievement division, said in a Thursday interview. 

“We know that a lot of families went through times where they needed their children, especially their older children, to be home to help support the family depending on what happened with their jobs,” she said. “So we really did see some drops because of the fact that we didn't have the education that we had typically had prior to the pandemic.” 

Although state lawmakers approved a historic increase in K-12 education funding in 2023, allowing districts to increase educators’ salaries and make other investments, Dickson said it will take about three to five years before significant changes and improvements tied to the funding are apparent. 

Dickson is encouraged by recent improvements in the state’s student chronic absenteeism rate, which spiked during the pandemic, and gains in students’ proficiency rates. She added that this year, the state offered teachers professional development during the summer to help them improve their reading instruction, which is crucial for younger students’ success. 

The state has also emphasized the importance of personalized learning, which Dickson said will help to continue to improve graduation rates.

“We're looking at not only that academic piece, but student engagement and listening to … students and what they want within their education,” she said.