Students in some ethnic, ability and income groups, however, continue to lag behind their peers as a whole. Only 72 percent of Utah's Latino seniors graduated in 2007, and only 77 percent of students from low-income families and students with disabilities graduated with their classes.

In some schools, fewer than half of Latino students in the Class of 2007 earned diplomas.

"It's a huge problem," said Judy Park, state associate superintendent. "It's something we need to continue to focus on and work on. We need all our kids to graduate."

Latinos are Utah's largest minority group. In 2007, 13 percent of all Utah students were Latino. State leaders have long called on schools to help close such achievement gaps to ensure the state remains strong in the future.

State education leaders hope the new system for calculating graduation rates will help ensure no student is lost. For the first time this year, the state calculated high school graduation rates by following each student from 10th grade through 12th grade. The state then divided the number of graduates by the number of graduates plus dropouts.

Each student was assigned a number and the state was able to track that number even if a student moved to a different school. The Utah Office of Education didn't include students from ninth grade in the calculation because so many high schools in Utah start at 10th grade.

Before now, the state calculated graduation rates using a formula that looked at the number of graduates and dropouts in different grades in a given year.

Murry Hansen, a counselor at Enterprise High School in Washington School District, said he likes the idea of tracking individuals.

"It's going to make it so kids don't fall through the cracks," Hansen said. "It just makes everyone more accountable so you know where those kids are and what happened to them."

Enterprise was one of 11 schools in the state that had a 100 percent graduation rate in 2007, according to the state data. Ten of those 11 schools had graduating classes of 50 students or fewer.

"I know these kids from when they come in as seventh-graders all the way through high school," Hansen said. "It's a lot easier to keep track of kids and know what they need. You can get a lot more of a personal touch at a small school."

Though many educators agree the new system will be more accurate, the data still might not be perfect.

East Millcreek's Skyline High is also listed by the state as having a 100 percent graduation rate in 2007. But Skyline Principal Kathy Clark said that's not possible. She said six of her 435 seniors didn't graduate in 2007.

Still, a 99 percent graduation rate isn't too shabby. Clark credits parents and school staff for the success. She said students who are behind in English or math are required to take twice as many classes in those subjects. If students are failing core classes midterm, they're required to take tutoring.

"These kids know it's important to graduate," Clark said. "They know it's the next step for getting into a good college or [pursuing] further training."

Under the old system in 2006, 83 percent of Utah seniors graduated, but the new and old percentages are not comparable because of the different methods by which they were reached, Park said.