Idaho’s slowly climbing high school graduation rate reached a 10-year zenith of 82.3% last spring.
It’s a modest improvement over the class of 2023’s 81% graduation rate, but good news in a state known for having one of the nation’s lowest graduation rates.
The just-released 2024 graduation rate bested the state’s new, lowered goal to have 81.6% of students graduate on time. The previous goal had been to have 95% of students graduate on time.
By the numbers: 2024 four-year graduation rates
- 82.3% of students — or nearly 21,000 — graduated on time.
- 20,965 students graduated on time; 4,523 did not.
- 15 traditional schools districts and 11 nontraditional schools had 100% graduation rates.
- 49 districts and charters and 100 schools had graduation rates below the statewide rate.
Look up graduation rates by school district here or by school here.
Read on to find out which schools and districts had perfect graduation rates, how large school districts fared and how vulnerable students improved from 2023.
The districts and schools with perfect graduation rates (and small class sizes)
Fifteen traditional school districts had a 100% graduation rate. All were small and rural, with class sizes ranging from six to 67:
- Horseshoe Bend, 21 graduates
- North Gem, seven graduates
- Challis, 24 graduates
- West Side, 67 graduates
- Salmon River, nine graduates
- Kootenai, six graduates
- Potlatch, 26 graduates
- South Lemhi, nine graduates
- Nezperce, 11 graduates
- Highland, 13 graduates
- Dietrich, 21 graduates
- Culdesac, six graduates
- Rockland, 10 graduates
- Castleford, 24 graduates
- Murtaugh, 18 graduates
Sixteen traditional schools had a 100% graduation rate. All are secondary schools from the districts listed above, except for Clark Fork High in Lake Pend Oreille School District, which had 33 graduates.
Eleven nontraditional schools had a 100% graduation rate. All were small, with class sizes ranging from seven to 50:
- Meridian Medical Arts Charter, West Ada School District, 36 graduates
- Idaho Fine Arts Academy, West Ada School District, 38 graduates
- Technical Careers, Bonneville School District, 49 graduates
- Victory Charter, 26 graduates
- Compass Public Charter, 50 graduates
- Taylor’s Crossing Public Charter, 24 graduates
- White Pine Charter, seven graduates
- North Idaho Stem Charter Academy, 23 graduates
- American Heritage Charter, 12 graduates
- Gem Prep: Meridian, 14 graduates
- Gem Prep: Online, 29 graduates
At the state’s largest districts, wide variance in graduation rates
The Pocatello/Chubbuck school district claimed the highest graduation rate among the state’s 10 largest districts, with 92% of students graduating on time last spring.
Seven of the state’s 10 largest districts outperformed the statewide graduation rate of 82.3%. But three were far below that benchmark. Idaho Falls was at the bottom of this list, with just 73% of students graduating on time.
| District | 2024 four-year graduation rate (compared to 2023) | Number of graduates |
| Pocatello/Chubbuck | 92.1% (up from 90.8%) | 935 |
| Bonneville | 90.3% (minimal change) | 983 |
| Coeur d’Alene | 89.3% (up from 88.7%) | 646 |
| West Ada | 89% (up from 86.7%) | 3,039 |
| Jefferson | 85.4% (up from 84.4%) | 496 |
| Vallivue | 84.2% (up from 82.1%) | 590 |
| Boise | 83.9% (minimal change) | 1,685 |
| Nampa | 79.8% (up from 75.5%) | 860 |
| Twin Falls | 76.6% (up from 72.3%) | 600 |
| Idaho Falls | 73.2% (down from 75.6%) | 589 |
Vulnerable student groups show improvement but continue to be less likely to graduate on time, data shows
The student groups below had graduation rates below the statewide rate. However, all but two of these student groups had higher graduation rates than in 2023.
| Student group | 2024 four-year graduation rate (compared to 2023) | Number of graduates |
| Male | 80.4% (up from 78.6%) | 10,431 |
| Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander | 79.7% (up from 69.2%) | 51 |
| Two or more races | 78.8% (up from 76.7%) | 657 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 75.6% (up from 73.5%) | 3,750 |
| American Indian or Alaskan Native | 73.2% (up from 69.6%) | 199 |
| Black / African American | 73% (up from 72%) | 192 |
| Economically Disadvantaged | 72.9% (up from 70.8%) | 7,546 |
| Migratory students | 70.4% (up from 70.2%) | 335 |
| English learners | 66.6% (same) | 817 |
| Students with disabilities | 60.2% (up from 55.5%) | 1,644 |
| Students who are homeless | 58.5% (down from 59.3%) | 705 |
| Students in foster care | 49.3% (up from 41.6%) | 69 |
Idaho Education News data analyst Randy Schrader contributed to this report.
