New Jersey's high school graduation rate climbed for the sixth year in a row last year with 90.5 percent of the state's students earning a diploma, state officials announced Friday.

The graduation rate is at the highest it has been since New Jersey switched to a new method of measuring the rate in 2011, when the graduation rate was 83 percent, according to the data released by the state Department of Education. In 2016, the rate was 90.1 percent.

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"These increases in high school graduation rates are exciting, as they demonstrate we are on a path toward closing our achievement gaps and achieving excellent and equitable educational opportunities for our children," said Lamont Repollet, acting education commissioner, who was recently selected to head the department by Gov. Phil Murphy.

The rising rate means an additional 2,219 students earned diplomas in 2017 compared to 2014, state officials said.

New Jersey has long had one of the highest graduation rates in the nation. However, graduation rates vary greatly by district. Several charter schools and selective high schools, including admission-only academies for high achieving students run by the county vocational districts, boast 100 percent graduation rates.

Other schools, including some in Camden, Jersey City and Newark, had graduation rates less than 65 percent, according to the data.

The graduation rate is part of the district-level and state-level performance reports released by the state Friday.

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Staff writer Kelly Heyboer contributed to this report.