High school dropout rate

The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.: If changing the yardstick does make the number look better, there’s still good news that fewer Louisiana students are dropping out of high school.

The 28 percent drop in the number of students leaving high school is from the 2009-10 school year. That number is the best in a decade and thus very good news.

The reason the number is that high, though, includes a change in how dropouts are measured. Some students who previously might have been classified as dropouts are no longer counted if they attend adult education centers.

Still, even without the adjustment, the dropout rate would have declined by 16 percent — a good number. The bad news? Our state is 47th in graduation rates for high school students. That’s not nearly good enough.