Number of Americans Finishing High School Hits All-Time High

By Catherine Gewertz

The proportion of Americans who have completed high school or its equivalent has risen to an all-time high, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released this month. But some experts caution against interpreting the findings as a sign that young people are learning more or improving their job prospects.

The Census Bureau's findings show that more than four-fifths of the nation's adults age 25 or older—83 percent— had earned high school diplomas or passed the General Educational Development test as of early 1999, a finding that conforms to the trend of rising educational attainment over the past century. U.S. Department of Education figures show that in 1940, just 24.5 percent of Americans 25 or older had completed high school.

"It's been up, up, up in the last 60 years, and it ain't going down," said Eric C. Newburger, a Census Bureau statistician and the author of the report. "I expect that when we do the numbers next year, they'll keep going up. We're...