Indiana 23rd in graduation rates

INDIANAPOLIS -- More than 25 percent of Indiana's students do not earn a high school diploma, according to a new report that puts the state's graduation rate far lower than some previous estimates.\nThe state's graduation rate was 73 percent for the 2002-2003 school year, the most recent data available, according to the "Diplomas Count" report conducted by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.\nIndiana's state-reported graduation rate is 91 percent, but education leaders have known for years that the rate was far from the actual percentage of students earning a diploma.\nSince 1988, Indiana has calculated graduation rates by relying on group totals that schools reported each fall to the state Department of Education.\nThis year, for the first time, the state will calculate graduation rates using a new formula that follows individual students through school. The state Department of Education expects the new rate to be about 71 percent for the 2005-2006 school year.\nJason Bearce, spokesman for the department, said the more accurate calculations will help schools and the state realize the challenges students face in earning diplomas.\n"In this day and age, the high school diploma is just the beginning," Bearce said. "We can't afford for students not to have that credential."\nThe 73 percent graduation rate for 2002-2003 put Indiana 23rd in the nation -- slightly higher than the national average of 69.6 percent, according to the "Diplomas Count" report.\nChristopher Swanson, director of the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, developed a Cumulative Promotion Index to calculate graduation rates for states and districts. The formula estimates the number of students who "fall off track" for earning a diploma between ninth grade and graduation.\n"Our research paints a much starker picture of the challenges we face in high school graduation," Swanson said. "When 30 percent of our ninth graders fail to finish high school with a diploma, we are dealing with a crisis that has frightening implications for our country's future."\nLike Indiana, most states had state-reported graduation rates that were higher than the actual rate, the report found. In New Mexico and North Carolina, for example, the state rates were more than 30 percentage points higher than the graduation rate calculated by the report.