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Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Why don’t more students graduate?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A national report points out a problem many of you know about: Not enough Georgia high school students graduate.
About 58 percent of Georgia’s students graduated on time, compared to about 71 percent for the national average. (The figures are from 2005.)
The Diplomas Count 2008 report also looked at grad rates in the nation’s 50 largest school systems, which include four from the metro area. Cobb came in the highest at 71.6 percent followed by Fulton at 71 percent, Gwinnett at 68.4 percent and DeKalb at 58.9 percent.
The report’s researchers use a different formula to figure out graduation rates. Go here to see how Georgia and individual school districts perform using the state’s calculations.
Regardless what the number is, most people won’t be happy until it’s higher.
State officials have said they’re trying to improve the situation through more counseling to students and increasing the rigor of classroom lessons.
Why do you think Georgia’s graduation rate is so low? What else should we do?
