Arkansas' graduation rate falling, study finds

A new study says the percentage of Arkansans earning high school degrees is on the decline.

Arkansas’ high school graduation rate decreased by almost one percent between 2002 and 2009. The report says the number of “dropout factories,” or high schools where fewer than 60 percent of students graduate on time, increased from five to 12 around the same period of time.

However, the number of Arkansans taking advanced placement courses increased about 30 percentage points from 2001 to 2011.

The findings were released in “Building a Grad Nation,” a report co-authored by Civic Enterprises, a public policy firm, and Johns Hopkins University.

An Arkansas Department of Education spokesman said graduation rates are one of many benchmarks used to determine a student’s success.

One Arkansan is in Washington this week for the Building a Grad Nation meeting. State Rep. Ann Clemmer, who is on the political science faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, is attending the conference, where she heard Secretary of Education Arne Duncan give a talk earlier today.