The graduation rate at Benton Harbor High School in the last year plummeted. Data released this week by the Michigan Department of Education shows the graduation rate went from 75.64% in 2017-18 to just 46.71% in 2018-19. The decline is the steepest in the state. The number of students who dropped out went from fewer than 10 to 37 last year, which is the highest dropout number for Benton Harbor in the past five years. The school’s graduation rate increased from 71.22% in 2014-15 to 78.92% in 2016-17 before falling slightly the next year and sharply falling last year.
For the state, the graduation rate was 81.41% in 2018-19, and the Michigan Department of Education says that’s been going up for the past three years.
This article has been updated with the 2018-19 state graduation rate, courtesy of the Michigan Department of Education, and corrected to note the state’s rate has increased for the past three years.
