A Call for Honesty.

This seems an interesting difference of opinions.

We have Carol Johnson of Memphis saying:

"Given an almost 20 percent dropout rate (as calculated by the Tennessee Department of Education), it is obvious that our schools are not meeting the challenge to effectively educate all students." Commercial Appeal of 5/22/05

and this from Tri-Cities.com

"Tennessee’s graduation rate of 60 percent is well below the national average."
(snip)
"State leaders claim official graduation rates that are much higher – about 89 percent for Tennessee..."

We can always blame fuzzy math, I suppose.

The Tri-Cities.com editorial says that whatever the number we need to rethink "the typical classroom experience" and go "further to keep intelligent but under-motivated students from falling through the cracks."

Be honest about true dropout rates

TriCities.com

May 24, 12:31 AM EDT