Newswire:

The Children Really Isn’t Learning

Shocking new statistics came out yesterday about the dropout rates at American high schools. [ABC News]

A study issued by America’s Promise Alliance, founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, found the problems were especially intense in the inner cities.

17: The number of U.S. cities with graduation rates lower than 50 percent.

1.2 million: The number of U.S. high school students who drop out every year.

Colin Powell: “When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe.”

81.5 percent: The percent of public school students in the Baltimore suburbs who graduate from high school.

34.6 percent: The percent of public school students in Baltimore city schools who graduate.

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced a new plan yesterday to get all 50 states to calculate their dropout rates the same way. [NY Times]

Until now, states could calculate dropout rates using whatever fuzzy math they liked. Most, naturally, tried to downplay their problems. For example, North Carolina’s formula was so convoluted that it said 95 percent of its students graduated; using a more up-to-date method, that rate dropped to 68 percent.

If you can’t read this, find a teacher.

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