Now, all 50-states are using the same method.

“It's big for the schools systems of Alabama because now we have something to measure with everybody else.
Because with the four year cohort, another words, students that started four years ago stay together and graduate four years later.” Henry County Assistant superintendent Chris Padget said.

Basically, states take the number of students who graduate in four years with a high school diploma, and divide it by the number of students who entered the school four years earlier.
According to those statistics, Alabama's graduation rate for the 2010-2011 school year was 72-percent.

“It's really a team effort the thing about Dothan city schools and Northview, is we have a parental involvement specialist that really focuses on those kids that we really want to have graduate.” Northview Highscool principal Chris Shaw said.

Compared to neighboring states, Alabama fell behind Tennessee and Mississippi but scored better than Florida and Georgia.

“Now it's a uniform way of figuring out graduation rates and that’s a good thing and we can see where we stand.” Padget said.

“One of the main goals and purpose of Northview High School and Dothan city schools is to see kids graduate and walk across that stage and get that diploma.” Shaw said.

And although Alabama fared better than a couple of states...Paget says:
“For right now it’s okay, but we have a long way to go. This is our benchmark year more or less. We see where we need to go and that’s the important thing.”

According to the new calculation rate, Florida's graduation rate was 71-percent, and Georgia’s was 67-percent.