Just how bad is it?

Well, we’re not at the bottom of the barrel, but Seattle has it pretty, pretty bleak. No, I’m not talking about the weather—that’s a whole other post—I’m talking about our graduation rates.

While Seattle School District posted the seventh-highest graduation rate among big U.S. cities, we’re still below the national average (70 percent) with a grad rate of 67.6 percent. That’s according to a 14-page report called “Cities in Crisis” released yesterday by America’s Promise Alliance. Also from the report, “Only about one-half (52 percent) of students in the principal school systems of the 50 largest cities complete high school with a diploma.”

"When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe," said former Secretary of State Colin Powell, founding chair of the alliance, of the report’s findings.

Back at the local level, the Seattle P-I Editorial Board did a terrific job putting “Cities in Crisis” and the dropout epidemic in context with the increasingly high-tech job market. “Consider that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings told USA Today that ‘90 percent of our fastest-growing jobs require education or training beyond high school’…It's fitting that the story about our graduation rates appeared on April 1, not because it's a day for and of fools (although one could make that argument), but because Tuesday was also the day that U.S. businesses scramble, apply and hope to snag some H-1B (skilled worker) visas. High-tech businesses, such as Microsoft, have asked for an increase in the visas. Out of desperation.”

Today, however, brought at least a step in the right direction: Secretary Spellings announced that, in order to untangle the inaccurate state data that has obscured the severity of the nation’s high school dropout crisis, she will require all states to use one federal formula to calculate graduation and dropout rates. As we’ve said before, though not a cure, this is a HUGE step in the right direction.

In order to follow up with their report, the Promise Alliance plans to hold meetings across the country to address low graduation rates and Seattle and Tacoma have already indicated interest in hosting gatherings. We’ll be sure to fill you in on when/where these meetings will be held, as soon as we find out.