Grad rates drop across state   04/15/12 - 12:03am

The Georgia Department of Education released graduation rates Tuesday using a new calculation method that significantly alters the 2011 scores of high schools across the state.

The new cohort graduation rate divides the number of students receiving a regular high school diploma at the end of the 2010-11 school year by the number of first-time ninth-graders in 2006-07, plus students who transfer in, and minus students who transfer out, emigrate, or die during the next four years.