Here's yet another reason for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to step down. A new report by the nonprofit America's Promise Alliance found that only about half the students in 17 of the nation's 50 largest cities actually get a diploma.In Detroit, only a 25% of public school students graduate.
Some of the nation's largest cities, including Indianapolis and Cleveland, are getting failing grades when it comes to high school graduation rates.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is the founding chairman of the alliance launched in 1997.He called it a "catastrophe" and is supporting summits in every state to help get students better prepared to attend college and perform in the work force.
New York City has one of the nation's sorriest graduation rates, with less than half of city high-schoolers earning a diploma on time.
"It's an enormous waste of talent and time and resources," said Cary Goodman, whose Directions for Our Youth organization held a summit on the city's dropout crisis in February. "Unfortunately, New York has never made the dropout crisis the centerpiece of its work in education."
"This is an economic crisis as well as a moral crisis," said America's Promise Alliance President Marguerite Kondracke.