This is exciting news! According to recent studies, the U.S. Department of Education announced this past Tuesday that U.S. high school graduation rates have reached record highs in the 2013-14 school year, with 82% of teens graduating. There was a 17-point percentage gap in graduation rates between African-American and white students during the 2011-12 school year. However, that percentage decreased to 14.8 during the 2013-14 year.