Atlanta
(2008-04-01)
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The report, by a group called America's Promise Alliance, says that Atlanta graduates less than half its high school students.
The report looks at 2003-2004 data, and finds that only 46% of Atlanta high school students graduate. That puts Atlanta public schools near the bottom of the 50 largest urban school districts, at number 39.
But Beverly Hall, superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, says the data are old, and don't reflect recent gains:
HALL: On the NAEP, which is the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Atlanta Public Schools was the only urban system that since 2003 has show progress in every grade and every subject tested.
Hall says transforming high schools into smaller schools has been successful for Atlanta. She also cites the system's 2007 graduation rate of 68.3% as evidence.
But the state and the report measure the rate differently. While the report pegs Atlanta's 2003-2004 rate at 46 percent, the state measured 54 percent.
Calls to the authors of the study were not returned.
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