"Diplomas Count," the first in a new annual series from EDUCATION WEEK, finds large gaps in graduation rates across racial and ethnic groups, and by gender. 

The report, released Tuesday, June 20, 2006, provides detailed data on graduation rates for the 2002-03 school year, the most recent data available, for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and in the nation's 50 largest school districts. Read the report here. 

Graduation rates were calculated by the EPE Research Center using the Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI) method, developed by Research Center Director Christopher B. Swanson. The report found that graduation rates vary widely across the nation's largest districts, from a high of 82.5 percent in Fairfax County, Va., the nation's 14th largest district, to a low of 21.7 percent in the Detroit Public Schools, the nation's 11th largest district.

The online version of the report includes "State Graduation Reports," containing policy indicators related to important graduation-rate issues as well as state-level graduation rates for specific subgroups, broken out by race and gender.

Download your state graduation report here.

Later this week, the online version will provide a powerful mapping service allowing users to zoom in on each of the nation's school districts. This feature will allow readers to produce standardized reports comparing district, state, and national figures. The mapping application was developed in partnership with the Redlands, Calif.-based ESRI, a leading designer and producer of geographical mapping applications.

The report is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.