More high school students are staying in school after the national dropout rate decreased intensely last year, according to a survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau.

So says an article on PewResearch.org, who added that this year, 7 percent of the nation's 18-to-24 year old's have dropped out of high school, "continuing a steady decline in the nation’s dropout rate since 2000, when 12% of youth were dropouts."

"The decline in the national dropout rate has been driven, in part, by substantially fewer Hispanic and black youth dropping out of school [the non-Hispanic white dropout rate has not fallen as sharply]," the article said. "Although Hispanics still have the highest dropout rate among all major racial and ethnic groups, it reached a record-low of 14% in 2013, compared with 32% of Hispanic 18- to 24-year-olds who were dropouts in 2000."

New data, the article said, "how significant progress over the past decade at other measures of educational attainment among Hispanic youth: Not only are fewer dropping out of high school, but more are finishing high school and attending college." The only exception, however, is that "Hispanics continue to substantially trail white youth in obtaining bachelor’s degrees."

The dropout rate for black youth, the article said, also has seen a "record low in 2013 [8%] and has fallen by nearly half since 2000 [15%]," the article said.

"Blacks comprised 16% of the nation’s public school students in 2013, with that share projected to fall to 15% by 2022," it added. 

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Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor