WASHINGTON U.S. public high schools are graduating 80 percent of their students, causing researchers to project a 90 percent rate by 2020. The improving graduation rate has been spurred by such factors as a greater awareness of the dropout problem and efforts by districts, states and the federal government to include the rates in accountability measures. Among the initiatives are closing “dropout factory” schools. African American and Latino students fueled the gains. Graduation rates increased 15 percentage points for Latinos and 9 percentage points for African Americans from 2006 to 2012, with Latinos graduating at 76 percent and African Americans at 68 percent, the report said. “At a moment when everything seems so broken and seems so unfixable … this story tells you something completely different,” said John Gomperts, president of America’s Promise Alliance, founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
GRADUATION RATE HITS 80% IN HIGH SCHOOLS
WASHINGTHVAEN’ON U.S. public high schools have reached a milestone, an 80 percent graduation rate. Citing the progress, researchers are projecting a 90 percent rate by 2020. Their report, based on Education Department statistics from 2012, was to be presented today at the Building a GradNation Summit. The growth has been spurred by such factors as a greater awareness of the dropout problem and efforts by districts, states and the federal government to include graduation rates in accountability measures. Among the initiatives are closing “dropout factory” schools. Schools also are taking aggressive action, researchers said. Growth in rates among African American and Hispanic students helped fuel the gains. Most growth has occurred since 2006 after decades of stagnation. “At a moment when everything seems so broken and seems so unfixable … this story tells you something completely different,” said John Gomperts, president of America’s Promise Alliance, founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Iowa, Vermont, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Texas ranked at the top with rates at 88 percent or 89 percent. Alaska, Georgia, New Mexico, Oregon and Nevada were at the bottom, with 70 percent or less. Idaho, Kentucky and Oklahoma were not included because they received federal permission to take longer to roll out their system. Graduation rates increased 15 percentage points for Hispanics and 9 percentage points for African Americans from 2006 to 2012, with Hispanics graduating at 76 percent and African Americans at 68 percent, the report said. There also were 32 percent fewer “dropout factories” – schools that graduate less than 60 percent of students – than a decade earlier, according to the report. In 2012, nearly onequarter of black students attended a dropout factory, compared with 46 percent in 2002. About 15 percent of Hispanic students attended one of these schools, compared with 39 percent a decade earlier.