Report: IN, OH Must Increase Grad Rate Faster

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 7:29 AM

(Undated) - Indiana has fewer schools labeled as “dropout factories,” a new report states.

The America’s Promise Alliance release its “Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic” report on Monday. It defines “dropout factories” as schools that fail to graduate more than 60 percent of students on time.

In 2002 there were 30 such schools in Indiana. In 2010, that number fell by half to just 15.

Over the same time period, Indiana’s graduation rate for freshman went from 73.1 percent to 75.2, increase was noted as only limited progress by the alliance’s report. Indiana’s graduation rate is just behind the national rate of 75.5 percent.

The report placed Indiana among 13 states which need to be the most aggressive in accelerating their graduation rate by 2020.

Kentucky schools showed progress similar to Indiana by going from 39 “dropout factories” in 2002 to only 18 in 2010. The Bluegrass State was commended for increasing its graduation rate by 7.8 percentage points over the eight years to 77.6 percent.

Ohio trended in the wrong direction in the report. The state had 75 such schools in 2002, but that number skyrocketed to 135 in 2010. Ohio’s graduation rate increased by 2.1 percent to 79.6 percent in 2010.

The full APA report is available online at http://www.americaspromise.org/Our-Work/Grad-Nation/Building-a-Grad-Nation.aspx.