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SIGOURNEY, IOWA -- The Iowa Department of Education released the dropout rates for the state's districts from 2010 to 2011.

Reform has been the word when it comes to education in Iowa the past few months, with the governor's plan to reform the state's system.

Statewide, the graduating class of 2011 saw a decline of less than one percent in the graduation rate from the previous year.

In Southeast Iowa, rates varied for four-year cohort graduation rates, with over 96 percent of students graduating from the Van Buren School District and just over 86 percent in Fairfield.

One of the area's lowest rates belonged to Sigourney. Superintendent Benita Gonzales said the 63 percent graduation rate does not accurately reflect the students in the district.

"Our graduation rate, the report is dismal and we're not happy about it," Gonzales said. "What it is because of is circumstances that have put it there, and it's not because we have a huge dropout rate, we actually had 15 students out of our 46 in last year's graduating class... [that] went to college. As a result of them going to college, they were considered as we didn't graduate them at the same time they should have graduated with their class last year, so that affected our graduation rates significantly."

Still, Gonzales says the district will be proactive in improving that rate in the coming years.

"Some of the different things we're putting into place so that we're providing interventions for our students that are struggling academically and that will be instituted - we're starting wit that with our professional development this year because as far as I'm concerned, and as far as the administrative team's concerned, one drop out is too many," she said. "So we're working on identifying individual students and working to make sure that we have interventions in place for all of our students so that all of our students are successfully graduating."

Gonzales also noted that an important factor in a student's chances for graduation lies in the influence of the parents at home, especially during early education. Parents that take the time to read to their kids and do small things like making sure they get enough sleep and enough to eat will greatly affect their child's success in school.

Sigourney School District is also putting emphasis on elementary literacy, which is an element of Governor Branstad's education reform plan. Recent studies have shown that a student's literacy proficiency at the third-grade level is a significant indicator of success and graduation later on.

For the full list of rates by district, visit the Iowa Department of Education's website.