by KYW's Dr. Marciene Mattleman

A recent Associated Press story reports on data from America’s Promise Alliance.  That data reveals that 17 of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school dropout rates of more than 50% and 1.2 million students drop out annually.

While the ‘No Child Left Behind’ law requires states to submit graduation rates, they count in different ways.  One example is Columbus, Ohio, where the graduation rate in June was 40.9%. When counting those who graduated in the summer after 12th grade, the number rose to 60.6%.

To access better data on who’s dropping out and who’s graduating, Margaret Spellings, federal Secretary of Education, is calling for states to use one federal formula to calculate dropout and graduation rates.

But, schools often do not seek records of those who enroll from other schools, so that a student may be listed as a dropout from his or her former school, yet has moved on to a another school of choice.

While collecting data in uniform fashion will help define the problem— smaller schools and smaller classes, better prepared teachers, and motivating curriculum are needed to keep kids in school and help them graduate.