This snippet came from an article about Arne Duncan, our Secretary of Education, who is planning to send his kids to private schools in Chicago. (By Shontee Pant, Staff writer at csmonitor.com, July 10, 2015 )

From 1995 to 2005, the City of Chicago saw a 9.2 percent increase in the graduation rate to 51 percent of students entering high school graduating. In 2013, the percentage had increased to 65 percent. That same year, the average high school graduation rate across the United States was 81 percent.

The flip side of the above will be that 35% of the students in Chicago did not graduate. From http://cps.edu/About_CPS/At-a-glance/Pages/Stats_and_facts.aspx,

Student enrollment

Preschool: 22,873

Kindergarten: 28,978

Elementary (1-8): 232,825

Secondary (9-12): 112,007

That’s over 39,000 who won’t make it out of high school in this one major urban area. The numbers are far worse in Detroit.

Eduhonesty: The Chicago graduation numbers suggest a real improvement. In the sense that high school graduation has historically increased earning power, Chicago’s students unquestionably have a win here. We are getting better at keeping kids inside the school system. That 39,000 tells us we are a long ways from out of the tunnel, though.