Philadelphia School District graduation rate betters America’s college graduation rate

by Christopher Paslay
 
In a recent Inquirer article headlined “School proposal targets dropout problem,” writer Kristen A. Graham describes the Philadelphia School District’s graduation rate as “among the worst in the country—about 50 percent.” 
 
I find her choice of words quite interesting.  For starters, the district’s graduation rate isn’t among the worst in the country.  According [...]

Philadelphia School District leads nation with improved graduation rate, new study shows

 
 
by Christopher Paslay
 
Out of America’s 50 largest city school districts, guess which one improved their average graduation rate the most over the last 10 years? 
 
Philadelphia.  
 
It’s true.  According to Cities in Crisis 2009: Closing the Graduation Gap, a report prepared for America’s Promise Alliance by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, the Philadelphia [...]

Cutting the Drop-Out Rate: A Plan That Makes Sense

Here is an excerpt from an interesting story recently published in the New York Times by Winnie Hu: 
 
Governor Jon S. Corzine and state officials announced a yearlong multiagency initiative to boost the state’s graduation rates.  Called the New Jersey High School Graduation Campaign, it will be led not by the state’s Department of Education, [...]

U.S. Secretary of Ed. Plans to Humiliate Schools with High Drop-Out Rates

by Christopher Paslay
 
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has a new plan to cut drop-out rates in America: Publicly humiliate high schools with poor graduation rates by placing them in the spotlight.  She plans to do this by forcing states to use a uniform reporting system to track drop-outs, graduates and transfers (this will allow [...]