From today’s NJ Spotlight on the NJ DOE’s plan to raise standards for attainment of a high school diploma:

Christie and Cerf yesterday presented a new methodology for determining how many students are graduating now, releasing what they called a more accurate graduation rate for the state of about 83 percent of students in 2011.

The state’s previous graduation rate was 95 percent, the highest in the country, but that was largely self-reported by districts. Required by the federal government, the new count tracks students who entered in 9th grade and how many graduate four years later…

In some districts, officials said the rate will drop to as low as half the students graduating with their class. In Newark, for instance, just 61 percent of ninth graders in 2007 graduated in 2011 by the new count. The graduation rates for every district are expected to be released today.