(AP) -- South Carolina's passing rate for students seeking a high school equivalency diploma has surpassed the national average for the first time.
The state Education Department reports 75.3 percent of South Carolina students who took GED exams in 2010 passed all five tests to earn a diploma, ranking the state 26th in the nation. The national average was 72.6 percent.
South Carolina had matched the national average in 2008, when the state's GED success reached a then all-time high of 73 percent.
But the passing rate fell in 2009 to 69 percent. In January 2010, South Carolina opened its first stand-alone GED test centers in Columbia, Rock Hill, Greenville, Summerville and Florence. Two additional test centers were opened in Sumter and Conway in January.
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