
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 4, 1990                   TAG: 9005040923
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

GRADUATION RATE DOWN AT HIGH SCHOOLS

State education officials blamed tougher graduation requirements for a drop in Virginia's high school graduation rate from 26th to 34th in the nation.

The percentage of ninth-graders who went on to graduate from high school in four years dropped from 74 percent in 1987 to 71.6 percent in 1988, according to a U.S. Department of Education report issued Wednesday.

State officials said they knew the graduation rate would drop after the state began requiring minimum competency tests for graduation in 1981. - Associated Press

by CNB