Article: Straight answers, please, on state graduation rate ; Fuzzy math understates the true extent of Maine's high-school dropout rate.


Portland Press Herald (Maine)
06-22-2006
Straight answers, please, on state graduation rate ; Fuzzy math understates the true extent of Maine's high-school dropout rate.
Edition: FINAL
Section: Editorial

Which is it?

Did Maine graduate 87 percent of its high-school students in 2003, as state officials claim?
Or is it more likely that just 74 percent graduated, as calculated by a national education weekly?

The answer is more than just academic. With about 14,000 seniors that year, the difference between 87 percent and 74 percent amounts to 2,000 dropouts. Two thousand students failed by our education system is not something that should be swept under the rug.

Maine is in good company, if ...

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