U.S. to Set Standard Measurement of Dropouts

The federal government will require all states to use the same formula to calculate school dropout rates, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced today. Prior to this, each state used it's own method of calculating dropouts, a procedure that some experts say conceals serious problems. For example, a change last year in North Carolina's dropout formula cut its graduation rate from 95 percent to 68 percent. In cities like Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, fewer than 35 percent of high school students graduate on time, according to a separate study released today.

In our Reality Check report, How Black and Hispanic Families Rate Their Schools, minority parents were far more likely than whites to consider "too many students dropping out" as a serious problem in their school. Some 48 percent of Hispanic parents and 38 percent of black parents say dropouts are a "very serious" problem in local schools, compared to 18 percent of whites. But black parents are also more skeptical about what the diplomas mean to their children, with four in 10 saying getting a diploma is "no guarantee" that a student has learned the basics. Only 26 percent of white and Hispanic parents have the same reservations.