State dropout rate at 33 percent
Only two-thirds of students who enter Washington high schools graduate four years later, according to a new study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The graduation rates for African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans are lower [~] around 50 percent, said the study, written by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative New York think tank. [Seattle Times]
The only good thing is that a significant number of these kids do go on to get their GED. Never the less, it's a failure of the system when you have that many kids not finishing something that will effect the entire course of their future lives.
Since I just started back to school to get my teachers certificate, I take this seriously in a different way. How do we provide a better school experience, while meeting state standards, running the WASL (state standards test) gauntlet, larger class sizes, discipline restrictions, and mainstreaming. Add to that equation the fact that people in this state have shown they want more money for schools, they just arn't willing to pay taxes to do it.
It's no easy task to find answers...mj
9:35:45 AM 
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