Rethinking High School Graduation Rates and Trends

Written by Economic Policy Institute (a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank) members Lawrence Mishel and Joydeep Roy, Rethinking High School Graduation Rates & Trends is a serious-minded re-examination of modern statistical data. In an increasingly knowledge-driven and globalized economy, people without a high school diploma are at a disadvantage - but modern scholars disagree upon the precise rate of graduation in U.S. high schools. Rethinking High School Graduation Rates & Trends scrutinizes current sources of statistical data on high school completion and dropout rates, taking into account the findings of the Census Bureau Household Survey, historical trends, the General Education Development (GED) issue and more to draw mixed conclusions. On the one hand, graduation rates are unquestionably in need of improvement; on the other, they are higher than presupposed, and getting better. An extensively researched guide devoted to clearly defining the extent of the troubling national problem of high school dropout rates, without overstating its volume or understating its importance.