Alabama’s high school graduation rates for the class of 2022 dropped below 90% for the first time since 2017, and the number of students who dropped out before graduating also increased, according to recent data.

The Class of 2022 had an 88.2% graduation rate, down from 90.7% for the class of 2021. More than 3,000 students that were part of the 2022 graduating class left high school without a diploma.

The Class of 2022 started ninth grade in 2018, the last full school year before the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed how students could access learning.

When compared with the class of 2019, which escaped the pandemic’s impacts, more than three quarters of school districts lost ground. Alabama’s overall graduation rate for the class of 2019 was 91.7%.

Other states have had mixed results with high school graduation rates.

Thirty-nine high schools have rates 10 percentage points or more below the state’s graduation rate, a measure used in federal school improvement decisions. Five years ago, 18 schools met the criteria.

Nearly three quarters of the Alabama’s 3,038 students who left school before graduating with the class of 2022 were economically disadvantaged. Six out of 10 were male. Half were white.

English learners left school at higher proportions than other groups, followed by homeless students, foster students and Hispanic students.

Midfield and Fairfield City schools showed the largest positive difference in graduation rates between 2019 and 2022:

• Midfield City – 93.3% graduation rate for the class of 2022, up from 86.3% in 2019 and
• Fairfield City – 94% graduation rate for the class of 2022, up from 86.3% in 2019.

The biggest drop in graduation rates was in Montgomery County, with a graduation rate of 67.4% for the class of 2022, 20 percentage points lower than their 87.5% graduation rate in 2019.

At the school level, graduation rates in 51 schools dropped 10 or more percentage points from 2019 to 2022. The lowest graduation rate statewide is at McIntyre Comprehensive Academy in Montgomery County, an alternative school for at-risk students, where 41% of students graduated on time. That rate is down from 64% in 2019, but up from 38% in 2021.

Only one school, Tharptown High School in Franklin County, raised its graduation rate by more than 10 percentage points, from 83% in 2019 to 93% in 2022.

The Alabama State Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.