A new analysis from the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center finds the graduation rate for America's public schools was approximately 75 percent for the class of 2010, the most recent year for which data are available. The graduation rate rose nearly 2 full percentage points from the previous year, and 8 points over the past decade, reaching its highest point since 1973. However, it is projected a million students from this year's class will not graduate -- 5,500 students lost per school day, or a student every 31 seconds. For Latinos, graduation rates rose 16 points during the past decade, to 68 percent for 2010. Rates for black students, now 62 percent, rose 13 points over the same period. Native Americans experienced modest improvements -- an increase of 3 percentage points, but a downward trend since 2008. Rates for whites and Asian-Americans increased by 6 and 5 points to 80 and 81 percent, respectively. The white-Latino diploma gap nearly halved since 2000, with the black-white gap shrinking 30 percent. Across states, a 28-point gap separates Vermont (graduating 85 percent of students) from the District of Columbia (57 percent). Among the nation's largest school districts, Fairfax County, Virginia ranks first with a graduation rate of 85 percent; Maryland's Baltimore and Montgomery counties follow closely at 84 percent each. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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