High School Graduation Rate May Be Rising

High School Graduation Rate May Be Rising

A report recently issued by the nonprofit organization America's Promise Alliance, founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, predicts that the United States high school graduation rate is rising, after facing a steady decline through the end of the last century. President of the alliance, Marguerite Kondracke, likes the report "because it shows that progress is possible against all odds."

The report, totaling 88 pages, claims that "the United States is turning a corner in meeting the high school dropout epidemic." From the year 2001 to 2008, the national graduation rate increased from 72 to 75 percent. Another factor considered by the alliance is the number of high schools classified as "dropout factories" by researchers, a statistic that compares a schools 12th grade class size to that of its 9th grade class three years prior. The number of dropout factories existing nationally in 2008 declined to 1,750 from about 2,000 in the year 2002.

Critics of the report fear that relief over increased graduation rates may be premature. Daniel Losen, researcher and former Harvard lecturer said that while progress has been made toward improving the national graduation rate, we have not yet escaped the long-term and significant issue that high numbers of students do not complete high school. The report does note that increased graduation rates are not consistent across the country, for example, rates in Tennessee and New York have increased while rates in other states like Arizona and Nevada have drastically decreased.

Efforts of individual school districts and communities to improve student progress are detailed in the report. Richmond High School in Indiana, although considered a dropout factory by researchers from Johns Hopkins University just five years ago, raised its graduation rate to 80 percent in 2009, up from just 53 percent in 2006. On the other hand, the report points out areas in which graduation rates have worsened, like Las Vegas, where recent growth in the building industry has influenced many students to leave high school and work in construction or landscaping.

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