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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

US High School Graduation Rate

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  • As U.S. grad rate keeps climbing, some students lag behind, By Allie Bidwell, May 12, 2015, US News and World Report: “America is on track to continue recording record-level high school graduation rates in the next five years, but some states are struggling to keep pace even as they make gains each year.   A new report from a coalition of education advocacy groups – America’s Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center and the Alliance for Excellent Education – predicts the country is on pace to reach a 90 percent on-time high school graduation rate by 2020. To get to that national goal – 9 percentage points higher than the most recent rate of 81 percent, an all-time high – the report says the graduating class of 2020 will need to have 310,000 more graduates than the class of 2013…”
  • Oregon hurting nation’s drive to improve high school graduation rates, report says, By Betsy Hammond, May 13, 2015, The Oregonian: “Solid, steady improvements in high school graduation rates around the country have put the United States on track to reach a 90 percent national graduation rate by 2020, a new report says. But the report calls Oregon ‘a laggard,’ with near worst-in-nation rates for almost every category of students. It warns that Oregon, along with three other states with significant Latino populations, “will hold back continued national progress” towards the 90 percent goal.
  • States vary in success at improving high school grad rates, By Kimberley Hefling (AP), May 12, 2015, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The record high American graduation rate masks large gaps among low income students and those with disabilities compared to their peers.  There are also wide disparities among states in how well they are tackling the issue.  ‘This year, we need to sound a stronger alarm,’ said Gen. Colin Powell and his wife, Alma Powell, in a letter released Tuesday as part of an annual Grad Nation report produced in part by their America’s Promise Alliance organization. The report is based on 2013 rates using federal data, the most recent available…”