(CNSNews.com) -- Some high schools in Oregon are creating an optional “13th grade” in order to provide students with another year of academic support while boosting the state's on-time graduation rate. Starting with the Class of 2014, hundreds of students who have completed four years of high school but have not received their diplomas will be considered “graduates" for statistical purposes. At 69 percent statewide, Oregon had the second-lowest graduation rate in the nation for the Class of 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Education.