West Virginians know from generations of experience that education does not always come in the classroom. For that reason, we have been slower to make the shift to valuing educational attainment in the same way that perhaps it is valued in some other parts of the country. But the economy changed around us, and we know we must change our approach if we are to keep up.

It is encouraging, then, to see there has been an improvement in the past three years in the Mountain State’s high school graduation rate. After graduation rates of 90.2% and 91.3% in 2017-18 and 2018-19, respectively, the graduation rate for 2019-20 was 92.1%.

State Department of Education officials will have to do a little digging to find out how many high school seniors were pushed through to graduation with more leniency than normal, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the numbers are a good sign.

The Department of Education’s report shows a statewide 92.4% graduation rate among white students, a 98.7% rate among Asian Americans, a 92.8% rate among Hispanic students and an 86.1% rate among Black students.

The rate was 93.5% for female students and 90.7% for males.

Doddridge County did best, with a reported 100% graduation rate in 2019-20, while McDowell County Schools had the lowest rate at 82.5%.

Here’s where local counties came in:

• Randolph County, 95.47%

• Upshur County, 92.93%

• Barbour County, 97.44%

• Tucker County, 86.57%

• Pocahontas County, 85.00%

It is good news, then, and teachers and administrators are to be commended for their work toward these improvements. Much of the rest of the work is outside their control, as students have a broad range of support and encouragement — or not — when they are not at school. It is up to families and communities to help students understand the value of completing their high school education, and to show them -all of them — they can do it.