Re****t: City’s graduation rate fourth-worst
Filed under: BALTIMORE , Kelsey Volkmann , Baltimore Schools
Examiner
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - The dropout rate in Baltimore, where only 34
percent of public high school students graduate, ranks fourth-worst
among big cities in the United States, a new re****t reveals.
In addition, the disparity between the graduation rates in Baltimore
and its suburbs was the largest in the nation, according to a re****t
released today by the nonprofit America’s Promise Alliance, which
studied 2003-2004 graduation rates for the 50 largest school
districts.
The Alliance, founded by Gen. Colin Powell and chaired by his wife,
Alma Powell, to improve the lives of children, has done research
showing that half of all students in the biggest school systems don’t
earn a diploma.
“When more than one million students a year drop out of high school,
it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe,” Colin Powell said in a
statement.
“Our economic and national security are at risk when we fail to
educate the leaders and the work force of the future. It’s time for a
national ‘call to arms,’ because we cannot afford to let nearly
one-third of our kids fail.”
City schools chief Andres Alonso has started a major overhaul of the
school system, including cutting positions from central headquarters,
directing more funding to schools, allowing principals more control
over their per-pupil spending and opening five career- and
college-themed middle-high schools this fall.
“Nothing is more im****tant than ensuring that our children stay in
school and graduate ready for college and the work world,” Alonso
wrote in an e-mail to The Examiner.
“Everything that we are doing right now in looking at the system, at
schools, at how we operate and what new institutions we create is
geared toward keeping our students in schools and making it possible
for them to succeed.”
At 77.1 percent, Mesa, Ariz., boasted the best graduation rate among
the 50 largest school districts. The national average is 69.9 percent.
Nationally, 1.2 million students drop out each year — about 7,000
every school day — or one every 26 seconds. High school dropouts from
the Class of 2006-2007 will cost the United States more than $329
billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1313155~Re****t__City_s_graduation_rate_fourth_worst.html
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