The Dropout Epidemic

In addition to my reading up of the local Chicago news, I also always read the New York Times online because it often has fantastic articles about education and other issues that are near and dear to my heart here at Cabrini Connections. Today, one of my favorite columnists, Bob Herbert, wrote an editorial about the issue of the rising incidence of ignorance in America. Here at Cabrini Connections, we continue to discuss and follow studies showing how America's schools have fallen behind other countries in terms of test scores, graduation rates and college admission.

A couple of days ago, my boss, Dan Bassill in his blog, addressed the issue of the dropout rate in the nation's public schools. He highlights an article called "Cities in Crisis: A Special Analytic Report on High School Graduation" which does a fantastic job of showing the huge issue of high school drop out rates in our country's 50 largest cities using maps and charts to illustrate the facts. An interesting cross-study, is to compare the dropout rates in the charts in that article with the crime rates in the nation's 50 largest cities. Does it surprise you that they correlate very well? (I was just curious to find out the highest crime rates in light of the recent crime wave of this past weekend here in Chicago). Perhaps this should be a clue to our city officials when they look to solutions about combatting the rash of senseless deaths here in this great city.

Finally, you should also read, my new colleague, Cassina Sanders', blog. Cassina is our new marketing and fundraising coordinator and is a great new asset to our organization. Enjoy!