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How One School Came to Be at the Center of the Grad Rate Debate

February 01, 2018

If you work in any field even remotely related to education, odds are you’ve come across a headline about D.C.’s Ballou High School at some point in the past few months. Here’s a quick rundown and reminder of everything we know so far.
Four Ways Indiana is Closing Its Graduation Gap for Low-income Students

December 05, 2017

When it comes to graduation rates, Indiana has some serious bragging rights. Not only did it have one of the highest high school graduation rates of any state in the country in 2015, it also reported the smallest graduation gap between low-income and non-low-income students—no easy feat, considering more than one-third of Indiana students come from low-income families. So how did they do it?
What’s Working: Four Ways Policymakers Can Use Data to Improve Schools

July 26, 2017

Along with spotlighting states that can serve as examples to the rest of the country, Time to Act 2017: Put Data in the Hands of the People challenges leaders in education agencies, state boards, legislatures, and governors to prioritize the effective use of data in the following four ways.
Four College Students Share What it Was Like to be Homeless—and What they Learned from It

June 07, 2017

The four students quoted in this story come from states across the country, but they all have two things in common: First, they used to be homeless. Second, they found a way to graduate high school and enroll in college anyway.
A Year of AmeriCorps: Change is Possible

January 23, 2017

Eliminating poverty and raising the high school graduation rate to 90 percent — these two goals are daunting. However, they’re the goals of the GradMinnesota initiative, as well as goals I am committed to working toward over the next seven months.
Five Reasons I’m Optimistic About the Class of 2020

September 08, 2016

I don’t have teenage kids any more, but I do have a special interest in the nearly 4 million kids who are just starting high school right now. Back in 2010, the GradNation campaign set a goal of 90 percent high school graduation by 2020, and we’ve made great progress since then, reaching an all-time high graduation rate of 82.3 percent. 
Here’s How States Can Use Data to Improve Graduation Rates

December 14, 2015

What one factor is most responsible for the nation’s highest on-time high school graduation rate? According to a new report, it all comes down to data. In Sealing the Cracks: Using graduation data, policy, and practice to keep all kids on track, the Data Quality Campaign says that state and national leaders helped raise graduation rates by prioritizing quality, comparable data about which students actually graduated and which ones fell through the cracks.
More Graduates, More Good News for GradNation

October 23, 2015

The GradNation campaign got two big shots of good news this week. First, the U.S. Department of Education released preliminary data showing continued increases in high school graduation rates in most states. And the number of low-income students, minority students, students with disabilities and English language learners -- who graduated in 2014 is up in a majority of states as well.
Newark Focuses on Re-Engaging Disconnected Youth

December 17, 2014

On December 11th and 12th Newark community members gathered to develop a strategic plan for stemming the tide of young people who leave school prior to graduation and to reclaim the approximately 4,000 youth in Newark aged 16-21 without a high school diploma as the first step in our goal of expanding educational pathways for disconnected youth.  More than 300 community officials, business leaders, educators, parents and youth attended the highly successful Summit on the campus of Rutgers University-Newark to embark upon a multi-year and citywide collective impact process to increase the num
Albuquerque brings leaders together for goal of 60,000 new college grads

August 07, 2014

By Kelly Koepke Mission? Add 60,000 new college degrees and certificates to central New Mexico by 2020. That’s the challenge 100 educators, community and business leaders, speakers and students gathered to support on August 2 at the first GradNation Community Summit in Albuquerque, New Mexico.