Ontario's Liberal government is still including students who take five years to complete high school in its graduation rate, even though the province has had a four-year curriculum since 2003.

The government says graduation rates inched up to 82 per cent in 2010-11 from 81 per cent the year before — up 14 points over eight years.

Auditor General Jim McCarter said the 81 per cent rate in 2009-10 would have been only 72 per cent had it not included students who took five years to complete high school.

McCarter took the Liberals to task in his annual report for not publishing a four-year graduation rate for high school.

He said reporting the four-year rate would show how many students can finish the curriculum in the allotted time and how often schools deliver the curriculum as scheduled.

The Liberals spent hundreds of millions of dollars to increase Ontario's graduation rate to 85 per cent by 2010-11, but fell just short of their target.