High School Graduation Rates

Posted on November 30, 2010 by townsend

• U.S. school graduation rate is rising, By Sam Dillon, November 30, 2010, New York Times: “The nation’s high school graduation rate, which declined in the latter part of the 20th century, may have hit bottom and begun to rise, according to a report to be issued Tuesday by a nonprofit group founded by former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. ‘The United States is turning a corner in meeting the high school dropout epidemic,’ General Powell and his wife, Alma J. Powell, wrote in a letter introducing the report. The report cites two statistics. The national graduation rate increased to 75 percent in 2008, from 72 percent in 2001. And the number of high schools that researchers call dropout factories – based on a formula that compares a school’s 12th-grade enrollment with its 9th-grade enrollment three years earlier – declined to about 1,750 in 2008, from about 2,000 such schools in 2002…”
• Federal aid to high schools is up; so are graduation rates, By Nick Anderson, November 30, 2010, Washington Post: “The Education Department announced Tuesday that it has provided an unprecedented amount of aid to turn around struggling high schools, while an independent report found the nation’s high school graduation rate is on the rise. The federal announcement and the report from America’s Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization founded by former secretary of state Colin Powell, reflected a coordinated response to what some experts have called high school ‘dropout factories…'”
• Report: ‘Dropout factories’ on decline in US, By Dorie Turner (AP), November 30, 2010, Washington Post: “The number of so-called ‘dropout factory’ high schools in the United States has declined since 2002, translating into at least 100,000 more students getting a diploma, a new report shows. But the report from America’s Promise Alliance to be released Tuesday also said that progress needs to increase fivefold for the country to graduate nine out of 10 students by 2020, a goal of the Obama administration. States including Tennessee, Texas, New York and Georgia have already figured out tactics that work. But fixing the problem won’t be easy, said report co-author John Bridgeland…”