ROCHESTER, N.Y. — More students in the Rochester City School District are graduating from high school than ever before.

The New York State Department of Education reports 71% of city school students who attended as a freshman four years ago, graduated this past summer. That number is up nearly 3% from the previous year. 

The district has shown a solid increase in graduates from 10 years ago when just 43% of students earned a diploma.

As recently as 2016, the district was reported to have the worst graduation rate among New York's major cities. At that time, the RCSD was the only district among the state's so-called "Big 5" city districts to graduate less than half of its students. Only 47.5% of students who entered 9th grade in 2012, graduated in June 2016.