Superintendent: CCSD grad rate jumped in 2025, outpacing state

The Clark County School District’s graduation rate increased by five percentage points in 2025, Superintendent Jhone Ebert announced Friday.

The class of 2024 had a graduation rate of 81.5 percent, and this year’s rate was 86.6 percent, Ebert said.

“And we know what that means,” Ebert said. “When they have a diploma, they can go directly into the workforce, college, higher education, and a career. I’m so very proud of the work that all our educators, our principals, and our students themselves have put in.”

Ebert shared the news during a morning visit to Cheyenne High School, where the graduation rate climbed to 88 percent — a 7.2-point jump from the previous year.

During her tour, Ebert visited several classrooms, first speaking with physics students constructing a structure from pencils and wooden dowels, then joining a special education class where students practiced punctuation and capitalization.

In the second classroom, she praised a student named David, who used a smart board to point out that the proper noun “Jessica” should be capitalized.

“Great job, and thank you for letting us visit your class,” Ebert told him enthusiastically. She later told reporters that efforts in classrooms like David’s have helped drive the district’s overall rise in graduation rates.

The number of special education students graduating increased by 9.7 percentage points. Ebert noted that similar improvements were seen among English language learners, students at Title I schools, and Hispanic and Black students.

Ebert credited the increase in graduation rates to the district’s success in retaining educators and staff, supported by funding from the 2023 legislative session.

She thanked Gov. Joe Lombardo and the Nevada Legislature for “putting education first.”

When asked about critics’ claims that rising graduation rates hadn’t translated into better college readiness, Ebert responded that the Nevada Report Card data did not support that conclusion.

“Our numbers in the college and career readiness diploma, those are all going up,” Ebert said.

In the 2024-2025 school year, 7,011 students were awarded a College and Career Ready diploma, compared to 6,000 the year before. A news release from the district said that 30 percent of CCSD graduates are leaving high school “prepared” with one of the highest honors diplomas.

To obtain a CCR Diploma, students must accumulate 24 credit units, keep at least a 3.25 grade-point average, pass a civics assessment, take the ACT, and fulfill additional coursework and endorsement criteria.

“And so it’s easy to sit and, you know, say things, but the data shows that we’re doing really, really well,” Ebert said. “Our students are doing well. Our teachers are exceptional. And so let’s get off the couch and celebrate the work that everyone has done.”

The release also said that about two-thirds of CCSD schools reached a graduation rate of at least 90 percent. Five schools — Burk Horizon High School, Sandy Valley High School, Veterans Tribute Career and Technical Academy, and the College of Southern Nevada High Schools East and West — achieved a 100 percent graduation rate in 2025.

The statewide graduation rate was 85.4 percent, up about four percentage points from 2024.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.