Building a Grad Nation
2010 — 2011 Annual Update
We are now able to report that from 2008 to 2009 (the most current data available), the number of dropout factory high schools decreased by an additional 112 schools to 1,634, representing an annual rate of progress approximately three times as fast as the previous period.
By 2009, approximately 580,000 fewer students attended a dropout factory high school compared to the beginning of the decade. Although the national high school graduation rate is still too low1 and too few of our graduates have the skills they need to succeed after high school, an essential foundation has been laid to significantly increase graduation rates to 90 percent for the Class of 2020 and concerted efforts to rise to a standard of excellence are bearing fruit. This report is the first in a series of annual updates that will be provided through 2020, as the nation makes progress and confronts challenges to meet this national goal.
Click here for more information and to download the full 2011 annual report.
Click on any state on the map below for updated Civic Marshall Plan 2011 Indices.
Building a Grad Nation | Progress and Challenges
The central message of this report is that some states and school districts are raising their high school graduation rates with solutions that other public schools can use. This means that the nation can end its dropout crisis. America made progress not only in suburbs and towns, but also in urban districts and in states across the South.
Progress is often the result of states and districts rising to a standard of excellence — with clear goals and expectations from the state to the classroom, by challenging all students with a more rigorous curriculum to obtain a meaningful diploma that prepares them for college and work, and through a targeted approach sustained over time that provides extra supports to the school leaders, teachers and students who need them the most. Progress was not the result of a magic bullet, but a weave of multiple reform efforts, sustained, integrated, and improved over time.
Click on any state in the map below to access more information about its progress being made and the challenges it still faces, or click here for more information about Building a Grad Nation.
President Obama talks about Grad Nation
Change in Graduation Rate by State - Click on a state to view its Progress and Challenge Index and more.
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On Track for Success: The Use of Early Warning Indicator and Intervention Systems to Build A Grad Nation
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