Rockville, Md. -- The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) released the statewide four-year cohort graduation rates for the Class of 2025. For Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), the four-year cohort graduation rate reached 88.77 percent. While this remains above the statewide average, it represents a decrease from the 91.85 percent in 2024. Of the 13,705 students in the 2025 cohort, 12,166 successfully earned their diplomas within the four-year timeframe.

This decline serves as a critical indicator of the evolving challenges students face and underscores the urgency of our current work. A high school diploma is a 13-year journey where foundational skills are the key to long-term success, and the current figures suggest that student needs have outpaced the support systems provided in recent years. To address these gaps, MCPS is implementing strategies designed to restore academic excellence and reinforce core foundations across the district, guided specifically by the Montgomery Board of Education’s Future Ready Strategic Plan.

On a broader scale, Maryland’s statewide four-year cohort graduation rate for 2025 was 86.44 percent, a slight decrease from the 87.55 percent seen in 2024. These rates, which track students from their freshman through senior years per federal reporting standards, have fluctuated between 85.8 percent and 87.6 percent since the 2020-2021 school year.

Despite the general decline, the state reported encouraging growth in graduation rates for African American students, individuals from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and students with disabilities. However, the data also highlighted a significant decline among multilingual learners, identifying a key area for targeted intervention.

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