The Chronicle News Blog: Report Shows Stunning Failures in High-School Graduation Rates
Washington — In 17 of the nation’s 50 largest cities, less than half of the students who entered high school in 2003 ended up graduating. In Detroit, which has the lowest graduation rate of the top 50 cities, not even one in four students finished high school.
Those sobering statistics were compiled in a report released today by the America’s Promise Alliance, which intends to draw attention to poor graduation rates, especially in urban areas.
The alliance hopes to convene summits over the next two years in all 50 states, as well as the country’s 50 largest cities, in an effort to focus on what it is calling a graduation-rate crisis. At a press conference here today announcing the effort, a star-studded lineup of officials linked lagging high-school graduation rates and poor college preparation to America’s economic health, and pressed the need for renewed discussion of ways to graduate more students. The officials included Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican of North Carolina.
“From the home all the way through high school and college, it’s a connected system,” said Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state and a founder of the alliance. —JJ Hermes
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