Colorado’s four-year graduation rate climbed to its highest in more than a decade while the state’s dropout rate dropped to an all-time low, according to data released Tuesday by the Colorado Department of Education.
During the 2024-25 school year, Colorado counted 60,387 graduates who earned their diploma in four years, putting the class of 2025’s graduation rate at 85.6%. That marks an increase of 2,069 students from the previous school year, according to state data, which also shows Colorado has steadily improved its four-year graduation rate year over year going back to the class of 2022.
Additionally, about 70% of Colorado’s districts and boards of cooperative educational services, or BOCES, saw their four-year graduation rates remain steady or improve over the 2023-24 school year, according to state data.
Colorado determines its graduation rates by tracking a cohort of students from their freshman year through the year they are expected to graduate. The state allows students who need more time in high school to graduate within five, six or seven years. The graduation rates for those groups of students also increased.
Meanwhile, the state’s dropout rate fell to 1.6%, the lowest on record, according to the state education department. The number of students in grades 7-12 who dropped out last year fell by 1,413 from the 2023-24 school year.
The latest figures show “strong progress across the state” and are evidence that schools are focusing on the same priorities as the department, including boosting student engagement and “accelerating student outcomes,” Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova said during a media conference Tuesday morning.
“Improving graduation, dropout and mobility outcomes requires comprehensive, sustained work,” Córdova said. “It requires strong preventative efforts, particularly in those key transition years like ninth grade to support those transitions and ensure students stay on track in high school. It also requires timely intervention, additional support and re-engagement strategies to help more students remain connected, engaged and on track.”
Another key component, Córdova said, is “a long-term commitment to helping students explore options, plan for their futures and access career-connected learning opportunities.”
State education officials also acknowledged the challenges that persist with some student groups continuing to graduate at lower rates than their peers, though that gap narrowed in some instances.
The graduation rates for students with disabilities, kids from migrant families, homeless students, those living in poverty and students learning English all increased at a higher rate than the state, which saw its four-year graduation rate improve by 1.3 percentage points. Still, the graduation rates of those student groups remain lower than the state’s graduation rate of 85.6%.
Kids from migrant families, for example, graduated last year at a rate of 72.7%, up 4.7 percentage points from the previous year’s class of graduates.
“This helped to narrow but not eliminate gaps between student groups,” Johann Liljengren, director of dropout prevention and student re-engagement for the state education department said. “Even so, it’s important to recognize this progress. These improvements reflect a positive trend that we want to see continue.”
At the same time, graduation rates went up among different students of color, including Black students whose graduation rate jumped 2.3 percentage points to 80.6%; Hispanic students whose graduation rate rose 2.9 percentage points to 80.2%; and multiracial students whose graduation rate increased slightly less than 1 percentage point to 85.7%.
White students and Asian students graduated at rates higher than the state’s four-year graduation rate, though the graduation rate among Asian kids dropped by less than 1 percentage point to 92.6%, according to state data.
Many districts and student groups also sustained improvements in dropout rate. The state education department calculates Colorado’s statewide dropout rate by tallying all students in grades 7-12 who left during the school year, not counting kids who transferred to other schools.
The state’s dropout rate ballooned to 2.2% during the 2021-22 school year while schools grappled with pandemic learning disruptions and has dropped every year since then.
Liljengren noted that dropout rates among different student groups also revealed improvements, though dropout rates for some groups are still higher than the state’s dropout rate of 1.6%. That includes Black students, whose dropout rate fell by 0.2 percentage point to 2.5%; Hispanic students, whose dropout rate dipped by 0.5 percentage points to 2.6%; students from migrant families; whose dropout rate declined by 1 percentage point to 3%; English language learners, whose dropout rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 3.6%; and students from low-income families, whose dropout rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 2.3%.
Among the districts that made significant strides in graduating more students and seeing fewer drop out is Pueblo School District 60, which educates 13,302 students in preschool through 12th grade.
The district’s graduation rate hit 88.9%, up 4.7 percentage points from the class of 2024, according to state data. Graduation rates for groups of students who tend to need more support were also high — 90.6% among Hispanic students graduating in four years and 87.7% among kids from households living in poverty. The district’s dropout rate was also better than Colorado as a whole, down 1.2 percentage points from last year to 1.4%.
Superintendent Barbara Kimzey points to a long list of years-long strategies the high-poverty district has implemented to brighten its graduation rate and keep kids in school. The district has created transition programs to help sixth graders and ninth graders navigate major academic changes and offered students leadership courses.
The district has also heightened attention on first-generation students, in part by expanding the options they have for concurrent enrollment classes with no additional costs for fees, books or transportation from school to their college courses.
Additionally, Pueblo School District 60 has found ways to make it easier for students to get to school in hopes of reducing the number of kids who are routinely absent. That includes securing transportation for high school students, something the district has not always coordinated. With help from the city of Pueblo and Pueblo Community College, high schoolers can hop on city bus routes to get to and from school at no cost.
Among the district’s most impactful efforts, Kimzey said, is a focus on engaging students and families with an approach that is sensitive to their cultures and backgrounds and supporting students in ways that will meet their individual needs and help them succeed.
“We’re really committed to meeting our families with whatever needs they may have and whatever their home language may be, their customs may be,” Kimzey said. “Often when we have learners from diverse perspectives there are different approaches to education, different understandings about education. And so our job is to help ease that transition and help them understand how going to school now and graduating from school with a credential, with a plan for post-secondary, will open so many doors for them in the future.”