State education officials went through the motions of releasing annual dropout and graduation rates Wednesday -- numbers they know are unreliable and probably in most cases dead wrong.

They have no choice.

Federal officials require states to calculate the data each year and publicly report the findings.

Among this year's reported humdingers is the unlikely 100 percent graduation rate for Emery Unified. Just down the road, Newark Unified posted an 85.3 percent graduation rate -- a number that is supposed to indicate how many kids actually make it through high school.

The Alameda County Office of Education -- which educates some of the hardest-to-teach kids, including those in juvenile hall -- also reported a questionably high graduation rate of 98 percent. By comparison, the San Mateo County Office of Education posted a 78.9 percent rate.

The truth is, state officials do not know what percent of students actually are finishing high school. They do know the four-year dropout rate of 12.9 percent posted Wednesday is wrong.

"It's not an accurate portrayal of the true dropout rate in our schools," said California Department of Education spokesman Rick Miller.

The problem is, local and state officials do not have a way of following every student in the state.

When students move, transfer, opt for early graduation, go to jail or die, there is no guarantee local districts are keeping track of them.

And that means the state's four-year dropout rate of 12.9 percent is likely way too low and the reported graduation rate of 86.6 percent is way too high.

State officials are hoping to have a better grasp starting next year when they implement a "unique student identifier system" to track students from school to school, from kindergarten through high school graduation.

Until then, there will be a bunch of numbers posted on the Department of Education Web site that don't mean much.