Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Orange honored for high grad rate

Both school systems in Orange County were honored Monday for having high graduation rates.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools received recognition at a state ceremony held by the Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh. State Superintendent June Atkinson and former govenor Jim Hunt presented the honors.

North Carolina's overall graduation rate is 71.7 percent. At Chapel Hill-Carrboro, the overall rate for their student cohort was 86.7 percent; in Orange County Schools, the rate was 81.4 percent for the class of 2009.

The student cohort rate tracks the progress of all students who enter districts in the ninth grade.