Humboldt County high school students are graduating within four years at a higher rate than their peers statewide, according to numbers released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.

While the 2011 graduation rate remained steady over the previous year — falling slightly from 80.3 percent to 80.2 percent — the number of Humboldt County students dropping out of school rose in several categories and the overall dropout rate rose from 12.1 percent to 13.2 percent.

The graduation rates of Hispanic, Native American and black students dropped by about 5 percent each, while the graduation rate for English learners fell from 76.7 percent to 62.3 percent.

Renae Will, executive assistant to the county superintendent of schools, said the Humboldt County Office of Education was pleased that the county’s overall graduation rate was higher than the state’s number.

The 2010-2011 graduation rate ranged from 76 percent to 96 percent among individual high school districts in the county. Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District, which Will said had the lowest graduation rate, saw its rate increase nearly 2 percent over the 2009-2010 school year.

Will said it was unclear why the graduation rates for Hispanic, Native American or black students dropped, but said Humboldt County’s small population means the rates can be affected by just a few students.

”It can swing quite a bit just based on the number of students in each class,” Will said.

Across the state, more California high school students graduated in 2011 and fewer dropped out, with the biggest gains posted by Hispanic, black and English learner students, the state Department of Education said Wednesday.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said he was encouraged by the results, which put California’s graduation rate at 76.3 percent, up 1.5 percent from 2010, and dropout rate at 14.4 percent, down by 2.2 percent, from 2010, but noted there was still much room for improvement.

”It’s going in the right direction, but it’s not where we want it to be,” he said during a teleconference with reporters. “We want to be at 85-90 percent.”

The difference between graduation and dropout rates is students who are taking longer than four years to earn a diploma, special education students and students working on equivalency diplomas.

Results for Hispanic, black, English learner and poor students were higher than the overall average, which showed that progress was being made in closing the so-called “achievement gap” in which Asian and white students consistently outperform their counterparts from other ethnic groups, Torlakson said.

Asian students posted the top graduation rate with 90 percent, while black students fared the least well, with 63 percent.

English learners reported the biggest gains — 3.8 percent more graduated, while 4 percent fewer dropped out.

Hispanic students scored a 2.2 percent jump in graduation and 3 percent fewer left school, while 2.3 percent more black students earned a diploma and 2 percent fewer dropped out.

Although the results show an uptick, some said they show that more attention and resources are needed to graduate more black and Hispanic students.

”At the rate California is going, it will take us 13 years to close the graduation gap between Latino and African-American students and their white peers,” said Arun Ramanathan, executive director of The Education Trust-West, an Oakland-based education advocacy group.

On the Web: To view individual district rates, visit http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/

Graduation rates for Humboldt County for the 2010-2011 school year:

Overall: 80.2 percent graduation rate, 13.2 percent dropout rate.

Asian: 89.3 percent graduation rate, 5.4 percent graduation rate.

Hispanic: 69.5 percent graduation rate, 20.1 percent dropout rate.

Native American: 70.7 percent graduation rate, 19.5 percent dropout rate.

African-American: 68.2 percent graduation rate, 13.6 percent dropout rate

English learners: 62.3 percent graduation rate, 26.2 percent dropout rate.

Graduation rates for Humboldt County for the 2009-2010 school year:

Overall: 80.3 percent graduation rate, 12.1 percent dropout rate.

Asian: 87.5 percent graduation rate, 12.5 percent dropout rate.

Hispanic: 75.9 percent graduation rate, 16 percent dropout rate.

Native American: 73.3 percent graduation rate, 11.5 percent dropout rate.

African-American: 75 percent graduation rate, 14.3 percent dropout rate

English learners: 76.7 percent graduation rate, 19.2 percent dropout rate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.