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Mayor Michael Bloomberg went to a school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Tuesday to show off a slide presentation to the media on graduation rates.

State education officials released data Tuesday on high school graduation rates for students entering high school in 2006, and according to their figures, 61 percent of city students graduated in four years -- a jump of 2 percentage points from last year.

"We've worked very hard lots of people in the last 10 years," said the mayor. ""After six years of improvements, it's pretty hard to say it's just a statistical abnormality."

However, the city's graduation rate is just 65 percent. It is higher than Buffalo, Syracuse, Yonkers and Rochester, which have a 53 percent rate, but far lower than the rest of the state, which boasts almost 84 percent of students graduating.

Bloomberg points to a better rate of improvement than everyone else, but the number of high school graduates who are totally ready for college is still staggeringly small.

Research done by the State Board of Regents shows that figure at just 35 percent.

"Even if you aren't college ready and you have a diploma, without that diploma you can't get a lot of jobs in this city. So it's a big step. Is it adequate? No," said Bloomberg.

One measure of how well a graduate will do is seen in how many students earn Regents diplomas. According to the Department of Education, that percentage has steadily risen from 17.5 percent of the class of 2005 to 34.7 percent of the class of 2010.

Brooklyn high school senior Raquel Castillo told NY1 she will be ready to graduate this year because school administrators cleaned up her campus after freshman year.

"The teachers, they help me. They push me so much," she said.

Principal Mike Shadrick of Williamsburg Preparatory High School also pointed to an improvement in personal attention.

"I have like 40 teachers laying on the line every day, day in and day out, for our 500 kids," he said.

It is a pattern of change to smaller schools the mayor said is part of a successful trend, but he admitted the trend may reverse if he lays off thousands of teachers this year as planned.

"It's going to be harder to do at some point. You just can't keep doing more with less," said Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, the city Department of Education said an estimated 34,000 students must attend summer school if they want to advance to the next grade.

That is a 50 percent jump from last year.

Students who score a level 1 or 2 out of 4 on state English and math exams must attend summer school or repeat a grade.

Even though state test results are not released until July, the city can project where the cut-off for passing will be to estimate the number of students that will need to go to summer school.

Statewide, 73 percent of students graduated.

The data also shows graduation rates for students of all races are up, but a gap remains between the rates for white students and those of black and Hispanic students.