The city's largest labor union is slated to make an endorsement in the mayoral race on Wednesday, after members of the United Federation of Teachers meet to consider the Democratic candidates who have been seeking the UFT stamp of approval.

After seeing high school graduation rates improve under his watch, Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the slight decline on Monday as a sign that the city is holding steady despite the state's tougher graduation standards.

High school graduation rates for 2012 mostly remained flat for New York State, which education officials said should be considered a success given that most graduating seniors last year no longer could receive a Local diploma, and had to meet the Regents diploma standards instead. For New York City, the 2012 overall graduation rate dipped slightly to 60.4 percent from 60.9 percent in 2011 among those graduating in June while the numbers are slightly higher for those graduating in August of last year.