Dealing with dropouts

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Some problems are so intractable that they get pushed into dark corners. One of them is http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-04-01-cities-suburbs-graduation_N.htm">shockingly low high school graduation rates, particularly in urban districts.

For years, too many states have pretended not to notice when districts understated their dropout rates, either for appearances or because they didn't want to spend the money to track students.

The federal government is no better. The http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html">No Child Left Behind law focuses on a multitude of school improvements — but not on graduation rates.

Require accurate reporting.

It's hard to address a problem without being able to measure it. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings' announcement Tuesday that her department will http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2008/04/04012008.html">set a national standard for calculating graduation rates is a good start. States routinely use flawed numbers to look better or avoid the expense of a true accounting.

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