Report says nation's high school graduation rate is improving

From The New York Times: The nation’s high school graduation rate, which declined in the latter part of the 20th century, may have hit bottom and begun to rise, according to a report by a nonprofit group founded by former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. The report cites two statistics. The national graduation rate increased to 75 percent in 2008, from 72 percent in 2001. And the number of high schools that researchers call dropout factories — based on a formula that compares a school’s 12th-grade enrollment with its 9th-grade enrollment three years earlier — declined to about 1,750 in 2008, from about 2,000 such schools in 2002.The 88-page report, “Building a Grad Nation,” was published by America’s Promise Alliance, along with two other groups.