KPLU Local News
(2009-06-18)
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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn.
Partnership for Learning photo.
Randy Dorn: One is our dropout rate. One, also, is how our minority populations do in our school system.
Three of ten public school students drop out in high school. And the achievement gap - the statistical gulf between ethnic groups - remains a major problem. Take, for example, the class of 2008, in which more than half of native American students didn't graduate on time. Dropout rates remained high for blacks, Hispanics and Pacific Islanders. Dorn says he's looking to them for suggestions.
Randy Dorn: We're working with those groups so they can come to us, and help us understand what they believe will work in their communities.
Dorn says he'll announce a major initiative this fall to cut the achievement gap and reduce dropout rates. He's also phasing out the WASL. Dorn says it will be replaced next year by a shorter achievement test that takes half the time to administer. Gary Davis, KPLU News, Seattle.
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