A new national report from Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center paints a cautiously optimistic picture of high school graduation trends, finding that the national graduation rate has improved over the past decade, though a recent one-year downturn—the first significant annual decline in that 10-year period—raises cause for concern.

Despite overall progress, three out of every 10 students in U.S. public schools still fail to finish high school with a diploma, the report finds. That amounts to 1.3 million students lost from the graduation pipeline every year, or almost 7,200 students lost every day. The report also points out that there is no firm consensus among states, schools, and policymakers on what it means to be ready for postsecondary education or how to measure college readiness.

The report, Diplomas Count 2009: Broader Horizons: The Challenge of College Readiness for All Students, examines a growing movement to encourage post-secondary learning by:

• Mapping the policy and reform landscape that defines the college-ready agenda;
• Profiling one high school’s efforts to nurture a college-going culture;
• Examining how better data and accountability systems can help support readiness initiatives; and
• Highlighting the cutting-edge efforts of a state working to put actionable information about college preparation in the hands of educators.

The report—part of a multi-year project supported by the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—also tracks graduation policies for all 50 states and presents an updated analysis of graduation rates and trends for the nation, states, and the country’s 50 largest school systems.

Report Identifies Overachieving Districts

Despite recent downturns, graduation rates rose by 15 percentage points or more for about 1,500 districts across the country. The report finds stellar performance in some of the nation’s most at-risk communities, recognizing 50 “overachieving” big-city school systems from across the country.

Updated Road Map to State Graduation Policies
Diplomas Count 2009 examines state policies in three key areas. Among the findings:
·         College and work readiness: Twenty states define what students should know and be able to do to be prepared for credit-bearing courses in college, while 28 states have a definition of work readiness.
·         Advanced diplomas: Twenty-four states award advanced diplomas or some type of formal recognition to students who exceed standard graduation requirements.
·         Exit exams: Twenty-four states require exit exams for the class of 2009, with 20 of those states basing exit exams on standards at the 10th grade level or higher.

View Diplomas Count…
Read State Graduation Briefs for every state, feature detailed state-specific data on current graduation rates and trends over time, definitions of college and work readiness, and state requirements for earning a high school diploma.

View EdWeek Maps, a powerful online mapping service, lets users access graduation rates and other data for every school district in the nation and easily compare district, state, and national figures.