News-Record.com

RALEIGH (AP) - North Carolina's four-year high school graduation rate crept up this year.

State data released Thursday showed 69.9 percent of the North Carolina's public high school students who were freshmen in 2003 graduated by the end of June this year. That's a slight increase from last year's four-year graduation rate of 69.5 percent.

State Board of Education Chairman Howard Lee said state officials must learn why roughly 30 percent of students don't graduate within four years. He said some students drop out but others may transfer to different schools or enroll at community colleges.

The new figures show that black, Hispanic and Native American students continue to graduate at lower rates than their white and Asian peers.