15% Of High Schools Produce Half The High School Dropouts: 2/3 of Hispanic, 3/4 of African-American, 4/5 of Native American Dropouts

From "If Schools Were Like 'American Idol' . . . Unless we measure success by how children perform, we'll have higher standards for pop stars than public schools." by Robert Murdoch:

...the United States is home to more than 2,000 dysfunctional high schools. They represent less than 15% of American high schools yet account for about half of our dropouts. When you break this down, you find that these institutions produce 81% of all Native American dropouts, 73% of all African-American dropouts, and 66% of all Hispanic dropouts.

At our grade schools, two-thirds of all eighth-graders score below proficient in math and reading. The average African-American or Latino 9-year-old is three grades behind in these subjects. Behind the grim statistics is the real story: lost opportunities, crushed dreams, and shattered lives. In plain English, we trap the children who need an education most in failure factories.

Read the complete Wall Street Journal article here.

Related articles

• Yet more on graduation rates [Thoughts from Kansas] (scienceblogs.com)
• Locking up one generation dooms the next (timesunion.com)
• Task force cites high dropout rates for African American, Latino students (philly.com)
• Public schools: waiting for us to 'get it' (seattletimes.nwsource.com)