The graduation rate at Clarke Central rose by 15 points last year.

More than 80 percent of Clarke County School District students graduated within four years in 2015, the district announced Monday—by far the highest mark since the current measurement standard was implemented.

The statewide graduation rate rose from 72.5 percent to 78.8 percent.

The overall graduation rate for the district rose from 63.2 percent last year to 80.3 percent. (That’s an increase of 17 percentage points or 27 percent, not 17 percent as the district stated in its news release.)

At Clarke Central High School, it rose from 68.2 percent last year to 83.3 percent. At Cedar Shoals, it rose from 71.3 percent to 84.2 percent. At Classic City, the alternative school, it rose from 20.7 percent to 50.7 percent.

The district cited a number of “targeted interventions,” including data-driven instructional practices, individualized meetings with students, opportunities for credit recovery, graduation coaches, social workers and counselors who assist parents, a program that prepares freshmen for higher grades and a partnership that connects at-risk students with jobs for pay and class credit.

Graduation rates have been up and down at all three local high schools since 2011, when the Georgia Department of Education started using the “adjusted four-year cohort” standard, which only counts students who graduate within four years, adjusting for transfers, as opposed to all those who graduate.

The district credited a number of “targeted interventions” for the improvement, including data-driven instructional practices, individualized meetings with students, opportunities for credit recovery, graduation coaches, social workers and counselors who assist parents, a program that prepares freshmen for higher grades and a partnership that connects at-risk students with jobs for pay and class credit.

Graduation rates have been up and down at all three local high schools since 2011, when the Georgia Department of Education started using the “adjusted four-year cohort” standard, which only counts students who graduate within four years, adjusting for transfers, as opposed to all those who graduate.

Since 2009, though, eighth-graders’ CRTC scores have been on the upswing, and that seems to be finally paying off in terms of of students actually finishing school.

However, the higher graduation rates might also be at least partly due to the fact that it’s easier to graduate. Unlike past classes, the Class of 2015 was not required to take a graduation test to receive a diploma.

There's also a little bit of noise in data at the school and district level due to the sample size, so we'll have to wait a couple years to know for sure whether this is a blip or a real leap forward.