By Associated Press

State officials say Nevada’s public high school graduation rate is up almost 3 percentage points from the previous year.

The Nevada Department of Education says the graduation rate for the class of 2016 is 73.6 percent. That’s up from 70.8 percent in 2015.

More than 1,000 more Nevada students graduated high school in 2016 compared with 2015.

English language learners were the group that showed the greatest improvement. Their graduation rate rose 10 percentage points, even though it remains one of the lowest among subgroups in the state at about 42.6 percent.

Nevada’s graduation rate is one of the worst in the country and beat only New Mexico and the District of Columbia last year.

But state Superintendent Steve Canavero says Nevada is on track to become the fastest-improving state.