NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee is coming close to reaching the national goal of a 90 percent high school graduation rate by 2020.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press (http://bit.ly/1dowMGq ) reports 86.3 percent of the state's high school students graduated on time in 2013, according to the "Building a Grad Nation" report.

Tennessee ranks eighth in the U.S. for its high school graduations.

Researchers used data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education.

The state led the Southeast or came close to it in some subcategories such as on-time graduation rates for students who come from low-income backgrounds. In 2013, 80.7 percent of those students graduated, compared to the national average of 73.3 percent.

The report shows Iowa ranked No. 1 with an 89.7 percent graduation rate.