Published: February 14, 2006 | By ELISSA GOOTMAN | New York Times

More than a third of high school students in the state scheduled to graduate last June failed to do so, State Education Commissioner Richard P. Mills said yesterday, calling the figure "unacceptable."

Among boys, the numbers were even worse, Mr. Mills said, calling them "particularly disturbing." Statewide, 59.4 percent of boys graduated on time in 2005, compared with 69.2 percent of girls. In New York City, the gap was more pronounced, with 37.3 percent of boys and 49.8 percent of girls graduating on time last year.

"It is a pattern that will carry through into college; it will carry through into the professions," Mr. Mills said. "It has profound negative effects for our future."

The state's numbers, released at a news conference yesterday, also included a more dismal view of New York City's high school graduation rate than the one that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg released last week as part of a package of statistics on government performance. According to the city's numbers, 53.2 percent of students who were scheduled to graduate last year did so, down from 54.3 percent the year before.

The state, however, provided a number for the city that was even worse, saying the 2005 graduation rate was 43.5 percent, or 46.4 percent for students who had not received special education services.

State and city education officials agreed that the two education departments had simply calculated the figures differently. New York City's graduation figures include students who receive G.E.D.'s, or high school equivalency degrees, and those who graduate in August after attending summer school or retaking Regents exams. Also, the city includes some special education students in its main graduation rate number.

Lori Mei, the city school system's senior instructional manager for assessment and accountability, said the city stood by its figures. Changing its accounting system, she said, would make it more difficult to compare the graduation rate and other critical numbers year by year.

"Both the state and the city absolutely concur that the most important thing is to get the graduation rate up," she said.

But Merryl H. Tisch, a member of the Board of Regents from New York City, called the city's number "greatly inflated."

"The state and the city owe the taxpayers of New York a bottom line," Ms. Tisch said. "When the state and the city say these are the number of youngsters who are graduating from our high schools, that has to be the number, the go-to number. And until we can do that, it seems to me that there is a credibility gap."

To make things more confusing, the State Education Department said yesterday that it was not able to compare its own current figures with numbers it had released in the past because it was still working out the kinks in a new accounting system.