BUFFALO (AP) -- New York education officials are expected to release statewide high school graduation rates.
The data expected later Monday tracks students who were freshmen in 2007 with expectations of graduating last June.
Last year, the state Education Department found overall graduation rates trending slowly upward. The data showed that 73.4 percent of students who started ninth grade in 2006 graduated in four years.
The rates being released Monday should also show whether there's been progress in narrowing the gap between the graduation rates of white students and their black and Hispanic classmates. Last year's data showed that a big gap persists but was narrowing.
Another thing to look out for will be the performance of students in the Big Five districts of Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers.
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