BATON ROUGE - State education officials say the percentage of Louisiana students graduating from high school in four years has hit an all-time high.
 
It was 78.1 percent in 2017, up from 77 percent a year earlier. The national average is 84 percent.
 
According to a news release Thursday from the state education department , the graduation rate has increased by nearly 6 percentage points since 2012, and by more than 12 percentage points since 2008.
 
The number of 2017 graduates who qualified for a state TOPS scholarship reached an all-time high of more than 19,200.
 
The department said rates improved for African-American students - 72.8 percent this year, up from 71.5 percent; and those from low-income families - 72.6 percent, up from 71.3 percent.