- Under new formula, Georgia graduation rate reset to 67.4 percent, By Nancy Badertscher, April 10, 2012, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Georgia’s graduation rate has been revised downward to 67.4 percent based on a new and more uniform method of calculating how many of the nation’s students make it through high school in four years, it was announced Tuesday. That’s 12.6 percentage points less than the 80-plus percent graduation rate that’s been celebrated in this state in recent years. But it’s also less than the tumble that some predicted would follow a new federal requirement that eliminates a hodge-podge of state formulas in favor of a single — and what most agree is a more accurate — method of calculating graduation rates. In some states, the new method is yielding rates that are 20 percentage points lower than states previously reported. In February 2010, state School Superintendent John Barge warned that Georgia’s graduation rate could fall to 64 percent…”
- In D.C. schools, 59 percent of students get diploma on time, By Bill Turque, April 5, 2012, Washington Post: “Less than 60 percent of D.C. high school students graduated on time in 2011, according to a new and more rigorous calculation of completion rates announced Thursday. Figures released by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education show that 58.6 percent of students in the Class of 2011 obtained high school diplomas within four years. That’s a nearly 20 percent decline over the 73 percent rate reported for 2010. The new numbers also revealed a widening gap between the city’s public charter schools and traditional public high schools in the ability to graduate students on time. Eight in 10 charter seniors received diplomas last year, compared with slightly more than half of those in traditional schools…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty